4.4.2 Synchronous TransmissionWith synchronous transmission, all the letters or data in one group of data are transmitted at one time as a block of data. This block of data is called a frame. For example, aterminal or personal computer will save all the keystrokes typed by the user and transmitthem only when the user presses a special “transmit” key. In this case, the start and endof the entire frame must be marked, not the start and end of each letter. Synchronoustransmission is often used on both point-to-point and multipoint circuits. For multipointcircuits, each packet must include a destination address and a source address, and mediaaccess control is important.The start and end of each frame (synchronization) sometimes is established byadding synchronization characters (SYN) to the start of the frame. Depending on theprotocol, there may be anywhere from one to eight SYN characters. After the SYNcharacters, the transmitting computer sends a long stream of data that may contain thousands of bits. Knowing what code is being used, the receiving computer counts off theappropriate number of bits for the first character, assumes this is the first character, andpasses it to the computer. It then counts off the bits for the second character, and so on.In summary, asynchronous data transmission means each character is transmittedas a totally independent entity with its own start and stop bits to inform the receivingcomputer that the character is beginning and ending. Synchronous transmission meanswhole blocks of data are transmitted as frames after the sender and the receiver havebeen synchronized.There are many protocols for synchronous transmission. We discuss four commonlyused synchronous data link protocols.Synchronous Data Link Control Synchronous data link control (SDLC) is amainframe protocol developed by IBM in 1972 that is still in use today. It uses acontrolled-access media access protocol. If you use a 3270 protocol, you’re using SDLC.Figure 4.9 shows a typical SDLC frame. Each SDLC frame begins and ends witha special bit pattern (01111110), known as the flag. The address field identifies thedestination. The length of the address field is usually 8 bits but can be set at 16 bits; allcomputers on the same network must use the same length. The control field identifies the kind of frame that is being transmitted, either information or supervisory. An informationframe is used for the transfer and reception of messages, frame numbering of contiguousframes, and the like. A supervisory frame is used to transmit acknowledgments (ACKsand NAKs). The message field is of variable length and is the user’s message. The framecheck sequence field is a 32-bit CRC code (some older versions use a 16-bit CRC).High-Level Data Link Control High-level data link control (HDLC) is a formalstandard developed by the ISO often used in WANs. HDLC is essentially the same asSDLC, except that the address and control fields can be longer. HDLC also has severaladditional benefits that are beyond the scope of this book, such as a larger sliding windowfor continuous ARQ. It uses a controlled-access media access protocol. One variant,Link Access Protocol–Balanced (LAP-B), uses the same structure as HDLC but is ascaled-down version of HDLC (i.e., provides fewer of those benefits mentioned that are“beyond the scope of this book”). A version of HDLC called Cisco HDLC (cHDLC)includes a network protocol field. cHDLC and HDLC have gradually replaced SDLC.Ethernet Ethernet is a very popular LAN protocol, conceived by Bob Metcalfe in1973 and developed jointly by Digital, Intel, and Xerox in the 1970s. Since then, Ethernethas been further refined and developed into a formal standard called IEEE 802.3ac. Thereare several versions of Ethernet in use today. Ethernet uses a contention media accessprotocol.There are several standard versions of Ethernet. Figure 4.10a shows an Ethernet803.3ac frame. The frame starts with a 7-byte preamble which is a repeating pattern ofones and zeros (10101010). This is followed by a start of frame delimiter, which marksthe start of the frame. The destination address specifies the receiver, whereas the sourceaddress specifies the sender. The length indicates the length in 8-bit bytes of the messageportion of the frame. The VLAN tag field is an optional 4-byte address field used byvirtual LANs (VLANs), which are discussed in Chapter 7.
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