Mobile and Wireless

Networks

1
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3
Channel Access
Schemes
Channel Access Schemes

Which node will access the network and when?

 Channel Management
• Two types of channel management schemes:

– Control based access

• Any advantage or disadvantage … ?

– Random access
• Any advantage or disadvantage … ?
 Control Based Access
• Controlling entity
– Responsible for fair distribution of channel among nodes
• Network nodes
– No (or little) responsibility to control access to channel
– Have more resources available to manage their own data
• Major constraint
– Each node must maintain a reliable connection with the
central entity
– Very difficult to employ in a multi-hop network!
 Random Access Schemes
• No concept of central entity
– Independent nodes compete for channel when needed
– Each node decides itself how and when to transmit
• Two or more transmitting nodes -> collision
– When node has pkt to send, transmit at channel rate R
– No a priori coordination among nodes
• Main challenge is to avoid or minimize collisions
– Random access MAC protocol specifies how to detect
collisions, and then how to recover from collisions
(delayed retransmissions?)
Ideal Multiple Access Protocol
Broadcast channel of rate R bps
1. When one node wants to transmit, it can send at
rate R.
2. When M nodes want to transmit, each can send at
average rate R/M
3. Fully decentralized:
– no special node to coordinate transmissions
– no synchronization of clocks, slots
4. Simple
 Some Terminologies
• Contention systems
– Systems in which multiple users share a common channel
in a way that can lead to conflicts
• Throughput
– The maximum continuous traffic rate that a device can
handle without dropping a single packet.
– Measured in terms of the number of frames per second at
a given frame size
• Frame Time
– Time used to transmit a frame (frame_size/data rate)
 Channel Access
• Three main key words for design of multiple
access schemes:
– Flexibility
– Quality
– Fairness
 Taxonomy of MAC Protocols
• What can be the different and distinguishable
approaches to access the wireless channel?

• How about pre-sharing the resources equally?

• How about making a queue?

• And if we leave it to the transmitter, as per the

demand of the traffic?
Broad Classes of MAC Scheme
1. Channel partitioning
– Divide channel into smaller “pieces” (time slots,
frequency, code, etc.)
– Allocate each piece to a node for exclusive use
2. Random access
– Channel is not divided, allow collisions!
– “Recover” from collisions
3. Taking turns
– Tightly coordinate shared access to avoid collisions
Channel Partitioning
Schemes
 Control Based Access
• Scheduled/centralized approach to multiple
access
• Better suited to circuit switched networks,
especially for infrastructure networks
– Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
– Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
– Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
– Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)
– Token Ring / Bus Ring
 Frequency Division Multiple
Access (FDMA)
• Divide spectrum (freq) into n bands (channels)
– One channel to each node for each direction of a data flow
– User has access to only 1/n of bandwidth, but all the time
– One channel could be reserved for control functions
• Each node sends in a pre-determined frequency bin
– Unused time in frequency bands go idle
• Ex: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have pkt, frequency bands 2,5,6 idle
frequency bands

time
Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA)
• Divide time into multiple slots (n channels)
– Station gets a slot (length=pkt trans time) in each round
– User accesses full bandwidth, but only for 1/n of time
– Reserved or fixed and dynamic, on-demand assignment
– One channel could be reserved for control functions
• Node send in a defined slot to each flow direction
– Access to channel in ‘rounds’, unused slots go idle
– Example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have pkt, slots 2,5,6 idle
 Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
• Multiple orthogonal codes to partition the spectrum
– n channels defined by assigning n codes, 1 each to n users
– Same freq, but unique chipping sequence to encode data
– Code is used to ‘spread’ the spectrum of transmission
– Each data bit (symbol) is transmitted by sending the code
• Receiver correlate code to received data to decode it
– encoded signal = original data x chipping sequence
– decoding: product of encoded signal x chipping sequence
Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
TDMA, FDMA and CDMA
 Channel Access in Cellular
Telephony
• First generation
– Capacity sharing based on FDMA, analog
voice+signaling
• 2G: Capacity sharing based on TDMA or CDMA
– Digital voice+control signaling, encryption, error correctn
– Bandwidth allocated when needed (idle, dedicated mode)
• 3G standard based on wideband CDMA
– 5 MHz carrier as compared with 200 kHz for narrowband
• 3G “widens the data pipe”
– Typically require different access and routing strategies
• Data is bursty, whereas voice is continuous, both packet switched
 Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiple Access (OFDMA)
• OFDMA divides a signal into sub-channels
– Using OFDMA/TDMA, sub channels allocated in
freq domain, and OFDM symbols in time domain
– Each sub-channel allocated to different subscriber
– Sub-channels can be combined from diff carriers
Random Access
Schemes
 Channel Allocation Problem
• Static channel allocation in LAN/MAN
– Issues with FDM or TDM
• Fewer than N users
– Valuable chunk of time (TDM) or bandwidth (FDM) wasted
• More than N users
– Some users are denied access (even if another user is idle)
• Exactly N users
– Idle users waste bandwidth e.g. bursty traffic (worst of both)
• Dynamic channel allocation in LANs/MANs
Assumptions for Dynamic Channel
Allocation
• Station model
– N independent stations generate frames, blocked in access
• Single channel assumption
– Single channel for communication, stations are equivalent
• Collision assumption
– If two frames transmitted simultaneously, overlap in time,
result in a garbled signal; all stations can detect collisions
• Time assumption
– Continuous time or slotted time
• Carrier assumption
– Carrier Sense (LAN) or no Carrier Sense (Satellite)
 Multiple Access Schemes
• Single shared broadcast channel
– Two or more simultaneous transmissions: interference
– Only one node can send successfully at a time
A multiple access protocol is characterized as follows:
• Distributed algorithm determines sharing of channel
– i.e. to determine how and when node can transmit
• Communication about channel sharing must use
channel itself!
• Scheduled or contention-based TDM
– Typically used in LANs, wireless and wired
– Contention-based, or explicitly / implicitly scheduled
 TDM Based Schemes
• Contention Based TDM Schemes
– Aloha and Slotted Aloha
– Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
– Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA)
– MACA for Wireless (MACAW)
– Inhibit Sense Multiple Access (ISMA)
• Reservation Based TDM Schemes
– Polling
– Reservation TDMA
– Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA)
– Packet Reservation Multiple Access (PRMA)
 Contention-based Multiple
Access
• FDMA, TDMA and CDMA are all scheduled
multiple access schemes
– Need distributed or centralized scheduling algorithm
– Overhead for scheduling
• Contention-based or “free-for-all” schemes are
probabilistic
– Transmission may succeed or fail due to “collision”
– Collisions delay transmission and waste capacity
 Contention or ‘Free-for-all’
Approach - Distributed
• ALOHA (Pure and slotted)
• Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
– 1-persistent, non-persistent and p-persistent
– CSMA/CD (Ethernet)
• CSMA with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
• Elimination Yield Non-Preemptive Multiple Access (EY-
NPMA)
• Collision-Free Protocols
– Bitmap protocol
– Binary countdown
• Limited-Contention Protocols
– Contention when load is light, collision-free when load is heavy
 Collision-Free Protocols
• Assumption
– N stations with unique address, propagation delay is negligible
• Bit-map protocol
– A reservation protocol: the desire to transmit is broadcasted before
the actual transmission

• Binary countdown
 Limited-Contention Protocols
• ALOHA
– Low load: improved efficiency
– High load: high delay
• Collision-free protocols
– Low load: high delay
– High load: improved efficiency
• New protocol? – limited contention protocol
– Uses contention at low load
– Uses collision-free at high load
 ALOHA
• 1971 by Norman Abramson, Univ. of Hawaii
– Extremely simple scheme, no coordination of medium
access, no resolution if there are collisions
• Stations attempt to transmit randomly (users
transmit whenever they have data)
– Collision if transmission of two or more stations overlap
– Hosts wait a timeout for an ACK, if no ACK received
within timeout, assume ‘collision’
– When collision occurs, wait for a random amount
of time (to avoid repeated collisions) and then
retransmit
 Aloha
• Wasted time due to collision is 2 packet intervals
• Probability of collision increases with number of
transmitting nodes
– Assuming Poisson arrivals, maximum throughput
achieved at 18% load
– pkt sent at t0 collide with other pkts sent in [t0-1, t0+1]
ALOHA – Performance
Analysis
• Poisson process (1837)
– Simplest model for arrivals
into a queue system
– the probability of an arrival
in a small interval of time
depends only on the size of
the interval
– The probability that k
frames are generated during
a given frame time follows
the Poisson distribution
 Slotted ALOHA
• Improvement over classical Aloha, 1972 by Roberts
– No coordination of medium access or resolution of
collisions (like Aloha)
– Divide time into discrete intervals; all transmitters are
synchronized to define fixed time slots (pkt trans time)
• Stations attempt to transmit only at the beginning of
next time slot
– Transmissions of two or more stations overlap
=‘collision’
– If collision: retransmit packet in future slots with
probability p, until successful
 Slotted Aloha
• Collision are confined to one time slot
– Wasted time due to a collision = 1 packet interval
• Collision occurs if two or more stations receive new
packets during the preceding time slot
– Max throughput achieved at 36% load, for Poisson arrivals
– Doubles the maximum throughput

Success (S), Collision (C), Empty (E) slots

 Slotted ALOHA Analysis
• Let m be the number of nodes in the system
• Let qa be the probability of a new transmission
attempt by a node during a given time slot (Poisson
arrivals)
• Let qr be the probability of a retransmission attempt
by a node during a given time slot
• The state of the system is n, the number of
“backlogged” nodes, 0 <= n <= m
• Markov chain model used to determine system
throughput as a function of state
 Slotted ALOHA Analysis
• Equilibrium achieved: arrival rate = departure rate
– Three such points: two equilibrium points are stable, one equilibrium
point is unstable
• Only one stable point is desirable
– Other parameter values may lead to
• One stable point and an unstable equilibrium point
• Single stable point
• No stable point
 Problems of ALOHA Protocol
• Low efficiency
– Pure Aloha
– Slotted Aloha
• Undesirable steady state
– At a fixed transmission rate, when the
number of backlogged stations
varies
Carrier Sense Multiple Access
• CSMA:improves Aloha by listen before transmitting
– Node wishing to transmit data first sense the channel
– If channel sensed idle: transmit entire frame
– If channel sensed busy, defer transmission
• Human analogy: don’t interrupt others!
– Can significantly reduce the probability of a collision
– Collision avoidance -- reduce probability of near
simultaneous transmissions
• Transmissions from two or more stations can still
overlap, so collisions can occur
– Retransmission in case of collision (LLC sublayer, TCP)
 Collision Detection
my-machine your-machine

start start
transmission at transmission at
time 0 time T

almost there at collision !!!

time T

How to ensure that my-machine knows about the collision?

41
 CSMA – Collisions
• Nodes start to transmit at about the same time
– Heavy load: nodes simultaneously sense the channel idle
– Time to detect other transmission is significant perf factor
– Performance degrades to that of Aloha as detection time
approaches frame transmit time
• Hidden terminal problem, unique to wireless net
– A station cannot detect another station’s transmission, yet
collision occurs at intended receiver(s)
 CSMA – Collisions …
• Collisions can still occur:
– Propagation delay means two
nodes may not hear each
other’s transmission
• Collision:
– Entire packet transmission
time wasted
• Note:
– Role of distance &
propagation delay in
determining collision
probability
CSMA/CD -Collision Detection
• Carrier sensing and deferral on ‘busy’ as in CSMA
– Listen even while transmitting, and if collision is
detected, stop transmission (“Listen-while-talk” protocol)
– Human analogy: the polite conversationalist
• Collision detected within short time, in
wired LANs)
– Measure signal strength, compare
transmitted and received signals
– Difficult in wireless LANs; and can be
costly
CSMA/CD -Collision Detection
• CSMA/CD can be used with nonpersistent, 1-
persistent, or p-persistent variants
– IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet specifies 1-persistent CSMA/CD
• Limits max length to keep propagation delays tight, so
CSMA/CD responds well
• Collision: abort transmission sooner than
end-of-pkt
– Collided transmissions aborted
• Reduces channel wastage
• Better efficiency than pure CSMA
– When collision detected, begin retransmission
CSMA/CD -Collision Detection
• CSMA/CD doesnt require explicit acknowledgement
– Unlike CSMA, which require an ACK or timeout to detect
a collision
– Collision detection is built into the transmitter
• Exponential back-off strategy
– After a collision, wait for randomly chosen time, then
retransmit
– Each time there is another collision, wait time is doubled
• At each retransmission, choose randomly from among a discrete
set of values within exponentially increasing wait time
– Retransmit a finite # of times
 Efficiency of CSMA/CD
• If collision is detected, instead of wasting the whole
packet transmission time (a slot), it only wastes the
time needed to detect collision
P: packet size, e.g. 1000 bits
P/C C: link capacity, e.g. 10Mbps

– Collision detect time=2T (T is one-way propagation delay)

• Approx e tries before each successful transmission
– Wastage of e2T (5T) sec on collision, before each
successful transmission, which takes P/C
 Efficiency of CSMA/CD
• The efficiency (percentage of useful time) is

• Value of a plays a fundamental role in the efficiency

of CSMA/CD protocols

• Question: What to do in order to increase the

bandwidth of network, but still maintaining the same
efficiency?
 CSMA – Persistence
• “Persistence” deals with how CSMA responds
when channel becomes idle
– Station transmits with probability p
– Defers transmission with probability p – 1
• 1 persistent CSMA (p=1)
– When channel is sensed busy, continuously sensing
• Non-persistent CSMA (p=0)
– When channel is sensed busy, wait for random time
• p-persistent CSMA
– Slotted channels, when idle, transmit with probability p
 1-persistent CSMA
• If channel is sensed idle, transmit immediately
– If channel is busy, continuously listen (carrier sense)
• Always transmit when channel becomes free ( p = 1)
– Reduced probability of channel under-utilization
– Increased probability of collision due to two or more
waiting stations transmitting at about the same time
• 1-persistent better than 0-persistent if …
– Offered load is light, or penalty for a collision is small

Packet A Packet B PacketPacket

X Y time
Host B listens Host B sends Collision
 Non-Persistence CSMA
• If channel is sensed idle: transmit immediately
• If channel is busy: do not continuously sense ( p = 0)
– Waits for a random interval before sensing again
– Repeat until channel is sensed to be idle
– Less prob of collision after channel goes from busy to idle
• Higher throughput than 1-persistent CSMA, with many senders
– Increased probability of under-utilization of channel

Packet A Packet B time

Host B Random Host B sends
listens Sleep
 p-Persistent CSMA
• Generalization of 1-persistent CSMA
– Typically applied to slotted channels
– Slot length is chosen as maximum propagation delay
• A host senses the channel, and
– If slot is idle, transmit with probability p, or defer with
probability q=1-p
– If next slot is idle, transmit with probability p, or defer
with probability q=1-p, repeat…
– If channel is busy, then sense channel continuously until it
becomes free, begin again