175

Protocol Efficiency and HDLC

In this section:
Protocol efficiency:
Effective data rates
Utilization
Stop and wait flow control efficiency
ARQ flow control efficiency

The High-level data-link control (HDLC)
protocol
HDLC data frames
HDLC operation

176
Protocol Efficiency
Can be measured in various ways
One measure: effective data rate (EDR)
Parameters:
R: bit rate, in bits per second
S: signal speed in transmission medium, in metres per
second
D: distance to send, in metres
T: time to create one frame, in seconds
T
F
: frame, T
A
: acknowledgement
F: frame size, in bits
N: number of user data bits in a frame, in bits
A: number of bits in an acknowledgement, in bits
177
Effective Data Rate calculation
For an unrestricted protocol (i.e. no flow control,
or acknowledgements), the effective data rate
(EDR) is


For a stop and wait protocol:
R
F
T
N
EDR
+
=
time needed for one frame
R
A F
T T
S
D
N
EDR
A F
+
+ + +
=
2
178
Example, for Stop-and-Wait
Suppose:
N = 160 bits, D = 200 ,A = 40 bits, T
F
= 1.5x10
-6
s,
T
A
= 0.5x10
-6
s, S = 2x10
8
m/s, F = 200 bits,
R = 10 Mbps = 1x10
7
bits/s








Note that this is about 57% of the bit rate
s b
s b
b b
s s
s m
m
b
R
A F
T T
S
D
N
A F
/ 10 7 . 5
/ 10 0 . 1
40 200
10 5 . 0 10 5 . 1
/ 10 2
200
2
160
2
6
7
6 6
8
~

+
+ + +

=
+
+ + +
=

179
Maximum Efficiency of Sliding Window
Adjustments to stop and wait formula
Instead of sending 1 frame, we could send W frames
replace N with N x W
Acknowledgements could be piggy-backed on to data frames
replace F + A with 2F, and replace T
F
+ T
A
with 2T
F



Actual efficiency depends on error rate: number of frames
re-transmitted, etc.


|
.
|

\
|
+ +
=
R
F
T
S
D
WN
EDR
F
2
180
Utilization
Objective: obtain a measure of efficiency that is
independent of the transmission speed of the
medium.
Utilization: fraction of time (1.0 best case)
that transmitter can send bits, as opposed to
waiting for acknowledgements or flow control
Simplifying assumptions:
T
F
, T
A
are negligible
A is much smaller than F, so that F+A ~ F

181
Maximum Utilization (1)
Time to send one frame and receive an acknowledgement is

If the window size is W, the time to send W frames is

Actual time spent transmitting bits is

Utilization (U) is the ratio of the actual time transmitting,
over the time needed to send and receive an
acknowledgement. The maximum utilization is

R
F
S
D
+ 2
|
.
|

\
|
+
R
F
S
D
W 2
|
.
|

\
|
R
F
W
1 2
1
2
+
=
|
.
|

\
|
+
FS
DR
R
F
S
D
W
R
F
W
182
Maximum Utilization (2)
Simplify by using the ratio of propagation time (D/S) to
transmission time (F/R)
Let
This is a pure ratio (i.e. no units).
Another way of viewing the value a is that if one
normalizes the frame transmission time to 1, the length
of the link in bits is a frames.



Therefore, the maximum utilization can be expressed as:
FS
DR
a =
1 2
1
+ a
A B
Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame a
183
Actual Utilization
Example: Error free sliding window protocol.
Send W frames, receive one acknowledgement.
Two cases:
Case 1: W 2a + 1
The acknowledgement for frame 1 reaches A
before the sending window is exhausted.



In this case, the sender can transmit continuously
with no pause, and ratio of the actual utilization
to maximum utilization is 1.0
A B
Frame a+2 Frame a+3 Frame 2a+1
Ack
184
Actual Utilization
Example: Error free sliding window protocol.
Send W frames, receive one acknowledgement.
Case 2: W < 2a + 1
A exhausts the window at time W, and
cannot send frames until time 2a+1.



A B
W a + 1 W a + 2 Frame W
Ack
A B
a + 2 Frame W
Ack
A B
W a + 1 W a + 2 Frame W
Ack
185
Normalized Utilization
For error-free sliding window:

+ <
+
+ >
=
1 2
1 2
1 2 1
a W
a
W
a W
U
186
Utilization in the presence of errors
Suppose that the probability of an error in a
frame is P.
Stop and wait:

Selective Reject:


Go-back-N:

+ <
+

+ >
=
1 2
1 2
) 1 (
1 2 1
a W
a
P W
a W P
U
( )( )

+ <
+ +

+ >
+

=
1 2
1 1 2
) 1 (
1 2
2 1
1
a W
WP P a
P W
a W
aP
P
U
1 2
1
+

=
a
P
U
187
Utilization for P = 0.001
U
a
188
Logical Link Control (LLC)
In the IEEE 802 series of standards for local area networks
(LANs), LLC is above the medium access control layer (MAC)
For Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), LLC is combined
with network layer functions.
In other standards, LLC comprises all of layer 2:
High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), ISO 3009 / 4305
Link Access Procedure, Balanced (LAPB),
ITU-T protocol for X.25 systems
Link Access Procedure, D-Channel (LAPD), ITU-T
protocol for ISDN (Integrated Services Data Network)
systems
Link Access Procedure for Frame-Mode Bearer Services
(LAPF), data link protocol for Frame Relay
Point-to-Point protocol (PPP) used between home
computers and internet service providers (RFC 1661)

189
High-level Data Link Control (HDLC)
Original source: IBMs synchronous data link
control (SDLC)
Related protocols: ITU-Ts link access procedure
standards (LAPB, ), PPP
ISO Standards: 3009, 4305

190
HDLC Basics
Stations:
Primary: sends data, controls the link with
commands
Secondary: receives data, responds to control
messages
Combined: can issue both commands and
responses
Link configuration:
Unbalanced: one primary station, one or more
secondary stations
Balanced: two combined stations

191
HDLC Basics
Data transfer modes (not a complete set; these are most
common)
Normal response mode (NRM):
Used with unbalanced configuration
Primary initiates data transfer; secondary can only
reply
Asynchronous balanced mode (ABM):
Used with balanced configurations
Either side may send data at any time
Address modes
Regular: sequence numbers have 3 bits
Extended: sequence numbers have 7 bits
192
HDLC overall frame format
data CRC Address Control
1 variable 2 or 4 variable 1 or 2
octets
01111110 FS
frame separator (FS): bit stuffing used for all
fields between separators
ITU-T versions
of the CRC are used
193
HDLC address fields
F bit:
if 1, this is the final octet of the address
if 0, another address octet follows
If the link is strictly point-to-point, the value of the field
will be 10000000, as the address is not relevant
An address of 11111111 represents all stations

bits
F
1 7
address
194
HDLC control field types
Information (I-frames)
Carries upper level data
Also includes ARQ sequence numbers for sending and
receiving
Supervisory messages (S-frames)
Used for flow control
4 types
Includes receiving sequence number
Un-numbered messages (U-frames)
Used for link setup and disconnection
15 types
195
I-frame control field
NS: sending sequence number
NR: receiving sequence number
P/F: poll or final bit
Command frame: asks for response (P poll)
Response frame: indicates response (F final)

0 NS P/F
1 7 1
bits
7
0 NS P/F
1 3 1 3
NR
NS
bits
extended
mode
regular
mode
196
S-Frame Control field
S field
RR: receive ready (bits: 00)
Positive acknowledgement, ready for I frame
Used when no reverse data; otherwise NR sent in an I-
frame
RNR: receive not ready (bits 10)
Positive acknowledgement, not ready to receive
REJ: reject (bits 01)
Negative acknowledgement, go-back-N ARQ method
SREJ: selective reject (bits: 11)
Negative acknowledgement, selective reject ARQ method
0 1 S P/F NR
1 3 1 bits 2 1
regular
mode
197
S-Frame Control field
The S field is the same as the regular mode
The four zeros are needed to pad the field to two full
octets, 16 bits.
0 1 S P/F NR
extended
mode
1 7 1 bits 2 1
0000
4
198
U-frame control field
SNRM: set normal response mode (M1 = 00, M2 = 001)
SABM: set asynchronous balanced mode (M1 = 11, M2 = 100)
SABME: set asynchronous balanced mode, extended (M1 = 11, M2 =
110)
DISC: disconnect (M1=00, M2=010)
UA: un-numbered acknowledgement (M1 = 00, M2 = 110)
RSET: resets send and receive sequence numbers (M1 = 11, M2=001)
FRMR: frame reject (M1 = 10, M2=001)
(see Forouzan, Table 11.1, p. 286)
1 1 M1 P/F
1 3 1 bits 2
M2
199
HDLC operation
One of the messages SNRM, SABM, SABME, is
used to set up the link initially.
Sets the mode, and the length of sequence
numbers
UA is used as a positive acknowledgment for U-
frames
After setting up the link, data transfer can occur.
The DISC message is used to terminate the
connection.
If a damaged U-frame is received, FRMR is sent
as a reply.

200
Connection
UA
A B
UA
201
A
Sample Two-Way Data Exchange
I,0,1
I,1,3
NR Sequence
numbers:
next message
expected
NR
NS
Frame type
Frame type
Message
NR
B
202
Go-Back-N ARQ
S,REJ,1
A B
203
Selective Reject ARQ
S,SREJ,1
A B
204
Receiver Busy
S,RNR, 4
S,RNR,4,F
S,RR,4,F
A B
205
Timeout
A B
S,RR,2