Unit-3 1
Data Link Protocols – Created by D. S. Trivedi, Deesa
Character Oriented Protocols
They interpret a frame of data as a group of successive bits combined in predefined patterns of
fixed length.
Control information is included in the frame as control characters.
Also called as byte oriented protocols
Examples: XMODEM, YMODEM, ZMODEM, KERMIT, BLAST, IBM's 83B asynchronous data-link
protocol, IBM's BSC
Bit Oriented Protocols
It interprets the data in bit-by-bit fashion rather than fixed length group of n bits
No dedicated control characters
Control field within a frame defines more than one control function.
More efficient than Character oriented which conveys more information in small frames
Examples: SDLC(Synchronous Data Link Comm.), HDLC(High-level Data Link Comm.)
D. S. Trivedi, Deesa Page 1
Unit-3 2
Data Link Protocols – Created by D. S. Trivedi, Deesa
XMODEM
It is a simple means of having two computers talk to each other
Popularity: Half duplex mode of operation
ACK/NAK responses
CRC data checking
It specifies half-duplex stop and wait protocol using a data frame consists of four fields.
YMODEM
Capacity of 1024 bytes
Two CAN characters are used to abort a transmission
ITU-T-CRC 16 is used to calculate the frame check sequence
Multiple frames can be sent with a single ACK or NAK character
ZMODEM:
Combines the features 0f XMODEM and YMODEM
KERMIT
It is a terminal emulation program as well as file transfer protocol
Control characters are transmitted as a text
A fixed number to its ASCII code followed by # added to it
Receiver detects # thereby discarding it and interpreting the next character as control character
(D In case of # character, two #'s are sent)
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Unit-3 3
Data Link Protocols – Created by D. S. Trivedi, Deesa
BLAST
Defines rules for file transfer and file management with remote computer
Full-duplex transmission and uses sliding window flow control
Synchronous Data Link Protocol (SDLC) –
SDLC is basically a communication protocol of computer. It usually supports multipoint links
even error recovery or error correction also.
It is usually used to carry SNA (Systems Network Architecture) traffic and is present precursor to
HDLC.
It is also designed and developed by IBM in 1975.
It is also used to connect all of the remote devices to mainframe computers at central locations
may be in point-to-point (one-to-one) or point-to-multipoint (one-to-many) connections.
It is also used to make sure that the data units should arrive correctly and with right flow from
one network point to next network point.
High Level Data Link protocol
It is an international standard defined by ISO for use on both point-to-point and multipoint data
links
Supports full duplex and can be used in both multipoint and computer networks
To satisfy a variety of applications, HDLC defines three types of stations
Primary station
Secondary station
Combined station
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Unit-3 4
Data Link Protocols – Created by D. S. Trivedi, Deesa
High Level Data Link Protocol
Stations configuration w.r.t network configuration:
Point-to-point with single primary and secondary(unbalanced)
Multipoint with single primary and multiple secondary(Unbalanced)
Point-to-point with two primaries and two secondaries (Balanced)
Operation mode of HDLC
Normal Response Mode
Asynchronous Response Mode(ARM)
Asynchronous Balanced Mode(ABM)
D. S. Trivedi, Deesa Page 4
