CHAPTER II

MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL (MAC)

The Media Access Control (MAC) data communication protocol sub-layer, also known as the
Medium Access Control, is a sublayer of the Data Link Layer specified in the seven-layer OSI
model (layer 2). The hardware that implements the MAC is referred to as a Medium Access
Controller. The MAC sub-layer acts as an interface between the Logical Link Control (LLC)
sublayer and the network's physical layer. The MAC layer emulates a full-duplex logical
communication channel in a multi-point network. This channel may provide unicast, multicast or
broadcast communication service.

Fig. 2.1. LLC and MAC sublayers

Motivation for a specialized MAC

One of the most commonly used MAC schemes for wired networks is carrier sense multiple access
with collision detection (CSMA/CD). In this scheme, a sender senses the medium (a wire or coaxial
cable) to see if it is free. If the medium is busy, the sender waits until it is free. If the medium is
free, the sender starts transmitting data and continues to listen into the medium. If the sender
detects a collision while sending, it stops at once and sends a jamming signal. But this
scheme does work well with wireless networks. The problems are:

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 Signal strength decreases proportional to the square of the distance
The sender would apply CS and CD, but the collisions happen at the receiver
It might be a case that a sender cannot “hear” the collision, i.e., CD does not work
Furthermore, CS might not work, if for e.g., a terminal is “hidden”

Hidden and Exposed Terminals

Consider the scenario with three mobile phones as shown below. The transmission range of A
reaches B, but not C (the detection range does not reach C either). The transmission range of C
reaches B, but not A. Finally, the transmission range of B reaches A and C, i.e., A cannot detect C
and vice versa.

Fig. 2.2. Hidden Terminal Scenario

Hidden terminals

A sends to B, C cannot hear A

C wants to send to B, C senses a “free” medium (CS fails) and starts transmitting
Collision at B occurs, A cannot detect this collision (CD fails) and continues with its
transmission to B
A is “hidden” from C and vice versa

Exposed terminals

B sends to A, C wants to send to another terminal (not A or B) outside the range

C senses the carrier and detects that the carrier is busy.
C postpones its transmission until it detects the medium as being idle again
But A is outside radio range of C, waiting is not necessary
C is “exposed” to B

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Hidden terminals cause collisions, whereas exposed terminals causes’ unnecessary delay.

Near and far terminals

Consider the situation shown below. A and B are both sending with the same transmission power.

Signal strength decreases proportional to the square of the distance

So, B’s signal drowns out A’s signal making C unable to receive A’s transmission

If C is an arbiter for sending rights, B drown out A’s signal on the physical layer making C unable
to hear out A.

Fig. 2.3. Near and far terminals Scenario

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) is used for allocating a separated space to users in
wireless networks. A typical application involves assigning an optimal base station to a mobile
phone user. The mobile phone may receive several base stations with different quality. A
MAC algorithm could now decide which base station is best, taking into account which
Frequencies (FDM), Time Slots (TDM) or Code (CDM) are still available. The basis for the
SDMA algorithm is formed by cells and sectorized antennas which constitute the infrastructure
implementing space division multiplexing (SDM). SDM has the unique advantage of not requiring
any multiplexing equipment. It is usually combined with other multiplexing techniques to better
utilize the individual physical channels.

Frequency division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) describes schemes to subdivide the frequency dimension
into several non-overlapping frequency bands.
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 Fig. 2.4. Frequency division multiplexing

Frequency Division Multiple Access is a method employed to permit several users to transmit
simultaneously on one satellite transponder by assigning a specific frequency within the
channel to each user. Each conversation gets its own, unique, radio channel. The channels are
relatively narrow, usually 30 KHz or less and are defined as either transmit or receive
channels. A full duplex conversation requires a transmit & receive channel pair. FDM is often used
for simultaneous access to the medium by base station and mobile station in cellular networks
establishing a duplex channel. A scheme called frequency division duplexing (FDD) in which the
two directions, mobile station to base station and vice versa are now separated using different
frequencies.

Fig. 2.5. FDM for multiple access and duplex

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The two frequencies are also known as uplink, i.e., from mobile station to base station or from
ground control to satellite, and as downlink, i.e., from base station to mobile station or from
satellite to ground control. The basic frequency allocation scheme for GSM is fixed and regulated
by national authorities. All uplinks use the band between 890.2 and 915 MHz, all downlinks use
935.2 to 960 MHz. According to FDMA, the base station, shown on the right side, allocates a
certain frequency for uplink and downlink to establish a duplex channel with a mobile phone. Up-
and downlink have a fixed relation. If the uplink frequency is fu = 890 MHz + n·0.2 MHz, the
downlink frequency is fd = fu + 45 MHz,

. , fd = 935 MHz + n·0.2 MHz for a certain channel n. The base station selects the channel. Each
channel (uplink and downlink) has a bandwidth of 200 kHz.

This scheme also has disadvantages. While radio stations broadcast 24 hours a day, mobile
communication typically takes place for only a few minutes at a time. Assigning a separate
frequency for each possible communication scenario would be a tremendous waste of (scarce)
frequency resources. Additionally, the fixed assignment of a frequency to a sender makes
the scheme very inflexible and limits the number of senders.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

A more flexible multiplexing scheme for typical mobile communications is time division
multiplexing (TDM). Compared to FDMA, time division multiple access (TDMA) offers a much
more flexible scheme, which comprises all technologies that allocate certain time slots for
communication. Now synchronization between sender and receiver has to be achieved in the time
domain. Again this can be done by using a fixed pattern similar to FDMA techniques, i.e., allocating
a certain time slot for a channel, or by using a dynamic allocation scheme.

Fig. 2.6. Time division multiplexing

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Listening to different frequencies at the same time is quite difficult, but listening to many channels
separated in time at the same frequency is simple. Fixed schemes do not need identification, but
are not as flexible considering varying bandwidth requirements.

Fixed TDM

The simplest algorithm for using TDM is allocating time slots for channels in a fixed
pattern. This results in a fixed bandwidth and is the typical solution for wireless phone systems.
MAC is quite simple, as the only crucial factor is accessing the reserved time slot at the
right moment. If this synchronization is assured, each mobile station knows its turn and no
interference will happen. The fixed pattern can be assigned by the base station, where
competition between different mobile stations that want to access the medium is solved.

Fig.2.7. Fixed TDM

The above figure shows how these fixed TDM patterns are used to implement multiple access and
a duplex channel between a base station and mobile station. Assigning different slots for uplink
and downlink using the same frequency is called time division duplex (TDD). As shown in
the figure, the base station uses one out of 12 slots for the downlink, whereas the mobile station
uses one out of 12 different slots for the uplink. Uplink and downlink are separated in time.
Up to 12 different mobile stations can use the same frequency without interference using this
scheme. Each connection is allotted its own up- and downlink pair. This general scheme still wastes
a lot of bandwidth. It is too static, too inflexible for data communication. In this case,
connectionless, demand-oriented TDMA schemes can be used.

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Classical Aloha

In this scheme, TDM is applied without controlling medium access. Here each station can access
the medium at any time as shown below:

Fig. 2.8. Aloha

This is a random access scheme, without a central arbiter controlling access and without
coordination among the stations. If two or more stations access the medium at the same time, a
collision occurs and the transmitted data is destroyed. Resolving this problem is left to higher
layers (e.g., retransmission of data). The simple Aloha works fine for a light load and does not
require any complicated access mechanisms.

Slotted Aloha

The first refinement of the classical Aloha scheme is provided by the introduction of time
slots (slotted Aloha). In this case, all senders have to be synchronized, transmission can only start
at the beginning of a time slot as shown below.

Fig. 2.9. Slotted Aloha

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The introduction of slots raises the throughput from 18 per cent to 36 per cent, i.e., slotting doubles
the throughput. Both basic Aloha principles occur in many systems that implement distributed
access to a medium. Aloha systems work perfectly well under a light load, but they cannot give
any hard transmission guarantees, such as maximum delay before accessing the medium or
minimum throughput.

Carrier sense multiple access

One improvement to the basic Aloha is sensing the carrier before accessing the medium.
Sensing the carrier and accessing the medium only if the carrier is idle decreases the
probability of a collision. But, as already mentioned in the introduction, hidden terminals cannot
be detected, so, if a hidden terminal transmits at the same time as another sender, a collision
might occur at the receiver. This basic scheme is still used in most wireless LANs. The different
versions of CSMA are:

1-persistent CSMA: Stations sense the channel and listens if it’s busy and transmit
immediately, when the channel becomes idle. It’s called 1-persistent CSMA because the
host transmits with a probability of 1 whenever it finds the channel idle.
Non-persistent CSMA: stations sense the carrier and start sending immediately if the
medium is idle. If the medium is busy, the station pauses a random amount of time before
sensing the medium again and repeating this pattern.
P-persistent CSMA: systems nodes also sense the medium, but only transmit with a
probability of p, with the station deferring to the next slot with the probability 1-
p, i.e., access is slotted in addition

CSMA with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) is one of the access schemes used in wireless LANs
following the standard IEEE 802.11. Here sensing the carrier is combined with a back-off scheme
in case of a busy medium to achieve some fairness among competing stations.

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 Fig.2.10. The different versions of CSMA

Demand Assigned Multiple Access

Channel efficiency for Aloha is 18% and for slotted Aloha is 36%. It can be increased to 80% by
implementing reservation mechanisms and combinations with some (fixed) TDM patterns. These
schemes typically have a reservation period followed by a transmission period. During the
reservation period, stations can reserve future slots in the transmission period. While,
depending on the scheme, collisions may occur during the reservation period, the transmission
period can then be accessed without collision.

One basic scheme is demand assigned multiple access (DAMA) also called reservation Aloha, a
scheme typical for satellite systems. It increases the amount of users in a pool of satellite channels
that are available for use by any station in a network. It is assumed that not all users will need
simultaneous access to the same communication channels. So that a call can be established, DAMA
assigns a pair of available channels based on requests issued from a user. Once the call is

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completed, the channels are returned to the pool for an assignment to another call. Since
the resources of the satellite are being used only in proportion to the occupied channels for the time
in which they are being held, it is a perfect environment for voice traffic and data traffic
in batch mode. It has two modes as shown below.

Fig. 2.11. Demand Assigned Multiple Access

During a contention phase following the slotted Aloha scheme; all stations can try to reserve future
slots. Collisions during the reservation phase do not destroy data transmission, but only the
short requests for data transmission. If successful, a time slot in the future is reserved, and no other
station is allowed to transmit during this slot. Therefore, the satellite collects all successful requests
(the others are destroyed) and sends back a reservation list indicating access rights for future slots.
All ground stations have to obey this list. To maintain the fixed TDM pattern of reservation and
transmission, the stations have to be synchronized from time to time. DAMA is an explicit
reservation scheme. Each transmission slot has to be reserved explicitly.

Packet reservation multiple access (PRMA)

It is a kind of implicit reservation scheme where, slots can be reserved implicitly. A certain
number of slots form a frame. The frame is repeated in time i.e., a fixed TDM pattern is applied. A
base station, which could be a satellite, now broadcasts the status of each slot to all mobile stations.
All stations receiving this vector will then know which slot is occupied and which slot is
currently free.

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 Fig.2.12. PRMA packet reservation multiple access

The base station broadcasts the reservation status ‘ACDABA-F’ to all stations, here A to F.
This means that slots one to six and eight are occupied, but slot seven is free in the
following transmission. All stations wishing to transmit can now compete for this free slot
in Aloha fashion. The already occupied slots are not touched. In the example shown, more than
one station wants to access this slot, so a collision occurs. The base station returns the reservation
status ‘ACDABA-F’, indicating that the reservation of slot seven failed (still indicated as free) and
that nothing has changed for the other slots. Again, stations can compete for this slot. Additionally,
station D has stopped sending in slot three and station F in slot eight. This is noticed by the base
station after the second frame. Before the third frame starts, the base station indicates that slots three
and eight are now idle. Station F has succeeded in reserving slot seven as also indicated by the base
station.

As soon as a station has succeeded with a reservation, all future slots are implicitly reserved for this
station. This ensures transmission with a guaranteed data rate. The slotted aloha scheme is used for
idle slots only; data transmission is not destroyed by collision.

Reservation TDMA

In a fixed TDM scheme N mini-slots followed by N·k data-slots form a frame that is repeated. Each
station is allotted its own mini-slot and can use it to reserve up to k data-slots.

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 Fig.2.13. Reservation TDMA

This guarantees each station a certain bandwidth and a fixed delay. Other stations can now
send data in unused data-slots as shown. Using these free slots can be based on a simple round-
robin scheme or can be uncoordinated using an Aloha scheme. This scheme allows for the
combination of, e.g., isochronous traffic with fixed bitrates and best-effort traffic without any
guarantees.

Multiple access with collision avoidance

Multiple access with collision avoidance (MACA) presents a simple scheme that solves the
hidden terminal problem, does not need a base station, and is still a random access Aloha
scheme – but with dynamic reservation. Consider the hidden terminal problem scenario. A starts
sending to B, C does not receive this transmission. C also wants to send something to B and senses
the medium. The medium appears to be free, the carrier sense fails. C also starts sending causing
a collision at B. But A cannot detect this collision at B and continues with its transmission. A is
hidden for C and vice versa.

With MACA, A does not start its transmission at once, but sends a request to send (RTS)
first. B receives the RTS that contains the name of sender and receiver, as well as the length of the
future transmission. This RTS is not heard by C, but triggers an acknowledgement from B, called
clear to send (CTS). The CTS again contains the names of sender (A) and receiver (B) of the user
data, and the length of the future transmission.

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 Fig.2.14. Multiple access with collision avoidance

This CTS is now heard by C and the medium for future use by A is now reserved for the duration
of the transmission. After receiving a CTS, C is not allowed to send anything for the duration
indicated in the CTS toward B. A collision cannot occur at B during data transmission, and the
hidden terminal problem is solved. Still collisions might occur when A and C transmits a RTS at
the same time. B resolves this contention and acknowledges only one station in the CTS. No
transmission is allowed without an appropriate CTS.

Now MACA tries to avoid the exposed terminals in the following way:

Fig.2.15. Avoiding the exposed terminals in MACA

With MACA, B has to transmit an RTS first containing the name of the receiver (A) and
the sender (B). C does not react to this message as it is not the receiver, but A acknowledges using
a CTS which identifies B as the sender and A as the receiver of the following data
transmission. C does not receive this CTS and concludes that A is outside the detection range. C
can start its transmission assuming it will not cause a collision at A. The problem with exposed
terminals is solved without fixed access patterns or a base station.
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Polling

Polling schemes are used when one station wants to be heard by others. Polling is a strictly
centralized scheme with one master station and several slave stations. The master can poll the
slaves according to many schemes: round robin (only efficient if traffic patterns are similar over all
stations), randomly, according to reservations (the classroom example with polite students) etc.
The master could also establish a list of stations wishing to transmit during a contention
phase. After this phase, the station polls each station on the list.

Example: Randomly Addressed Polling

Base station signals readiness to all mobile terminals

Terminals ready to send transmit random number without collision using CDMA or FDMA
The base station chooses one address for polling from list of all random numbers (collision
if two terminals choose the same address)
The base station acknowledges correct packets and continues polling the next terminal
This cycle starts again after polling all terminals of the list

Inhibit sense multiple access

This scheme, which is used for the packet data transmission service Cellular Digital Packet Data
(CDPD) in the AMPS mobile phone system, is also known as digital sense multiple access
(DSMA). Here, the base station only signals a busy medium via a busy tone (called
BUSY/IDLE indicator) on the downlink.

Fig.2.16. Inhibit sense multiple access

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After the busy tone stops, accessing the uplink is not coordinated any further. The base
station acknowledges successful transmissions; a mobile station detects a collision only via
the missing positive acknowledgement. In case of collisions, additional back-off and
retransmission mechanisms are implemented.

CDMA

Code division multiple access systems apply codes with certain characteristics to the
transmission to separate different users in code space and to enable access to a shared medium
without interference.

Fig.2.17. Code division multiple access systems

All terminals send on the same frequency probably at the same time and can use the whole
bandwidth of the transmission channel. Each sender has a unique random number, the sender XORs
the signal with this random number. The receiver can “tune” into this signal if it knows the pseudo
random number, tuning is done via a correlation function

Disadvantages:

Higher complexity of a receiver (receiver cannot just listen into the medium and start
receiving if there is a signal)
All signals should have the same strength at a receiver

Advantages:

All terminals can use the same frequency, no planning needed

Huge code space (e.g. 232) compared to frequency space
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 Interferences (e.g. white noise) is not coded
Forward error correction and encryption can be easily integrated

Spread Aloha multiple access (SAMA)

CDMA senders and receivers are not really simple devices. Communicating with n devices requires
programming of the receiver to be able to decode n different codes. Aloha was a very simple
scheme, but could only provide a relatively low bandwidth due to collisions. SAMA uses
spread spectrum with only one single code (chipping sequence) for spreading for all senders
accessing according to aloha.

In SAMA, each sender uses the same spreading code, for ex 110101 as shown below. Sender A and
B access the medium at the same time in their narrowband spectrum, so that the three bits shown
causes collisions. The same data could also be sent with higher power for shorter periods as show.

Fig.2.18. Spread Aloha multiple access

The main problem in using this approach is finding good chipping sequences. The maximum
throughput is about 18 per cent, which is very similar to Aloha, but the approach benefits from the
advantages of spread spectrum techniques: robustness against narrowband interference and simple
coexistence with other systems in the same frequency bandwidth.

Chapter Review Questions

1. What is the role of Media Access Control (MAC) Protocols?
2. What is the motivation behind the most commonly used MAC schemes for wired networks
that is carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD).
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3. What are Hidden and Exposed Terminals?
4. What is the motivation behind the development of Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)
Protocol? And what advantage it provides?
5. What schemas a Frequency division Multiple Access (FDMA) protocol describes? And what
are its limitations?
6. What are the purposes of uplink and downlink frequencies in a Frequency division Multiple
Access (FDMA)? And what are the band range for the same?
7. What are the advantages of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) over Frequency division
Multiple Access?
8. What is the motivation behind the development of Fixed TDMA?
9. When is the Classical Aloha more applicable for use?
10. What are the main limitations of Aloha systems?
11. Discuss the different versions of CSMA.
12. What are the two modes in Reservation Aloha?
13. What is Inhibit sense multiple access?
14. What a technique Code division multiple access system uses?

References
Lecture Notes on Mobile Computing, M.Geetha Yadav, Assistant Professor and T. Navya Assistant
Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Hyderabad.
Data and Computer Communications, Fifth Edition, William Stallings.

Data Communications and Networking, Fourth Edition, Behrouz A. Forouzan, DeAnza College
with Sophia Chung Fegan

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