Bus Contention * Bus contention is when more than one device tries to drive data line at the same time. * Bus contention, is an undesirable state in computer design where more than one device ona bus attempts to place values on it at the same time. * 1/O bus contention due to concurrent I/O devices access requests. ContentionBus Arbitration * The possibility exists that several master or slave units connected to a shared bus will request access to the bus at the same time * Aselection mechanism called bus arbitration * The device that is allowed to initiate data transfers on the bus at any given time is called the bus master * In acomputer system there may be more than one bus master * Bus arbitration is the process by which the next device to become the bus master is selected and bus mastership is transferred to it. * The selection of bus master is usually done on the priority basis.There are two approaches to bus arbitration: Centralized and distributed. 1. Centralized Arbitration There are three different arbitration schemes a. Daisy chaining b. Polling method c. Independent request a a) Daisy chaining ¢ Itis simple and cheaper method. All masters make use of the same line for bus request. * In response to the bus request the controller sends a bus grant if the bus is free. * The bus grant signal serially propagates through each master until it encounters the first one that is requesting access to the bus. * This master blocks the propagation of the bus grant signal, activates the busy line and gains control of the bus.Therefore any other requesting module will not receive the grant signal and hence cannot get the bus access. Advantages: -It is very simple arbitration scheme. -It requires very few control lines. -Additional device can easily be added. Disadvantages: -The value of priority assigned to a device depends on the position of the master bus. -Propagation delay arises in this method. -If one device fails then the entire system will stop working.a) Daisy chaining b) Polling method * Polling is process of calling each master turn by turn. * Amaster is called by its address. ¢ Address of a master is generated on poll count lines.In this the controller is used to generate the addresses for the master. Number of address line required depends on the number of master connected in the system. For example, if there are 8 masters connected in the system, at least three address lines are required. b) Polling method In response to the bus request controller generates a sequence of master address When the requesting master recognizes its address, it activated the busy line and begins to use the bus.This method does not favor any particular device and processor. The method is also quite simple. If one device fails then the entire system will not stop working. Adding bus masters is difficult as increases the number of address lines of the circuit. b) Polling methodc. Independent request * Each master has its independent Bus Request and Bus Grant line. * The identification of requesting master is almost immediate and the request can be responded quickly. * In case of multiple requests, a requesting master can be selected on the basis of priority.Advantages: This method generates a fast response. Disadvantage: Hardware cost is high as a large no. of control lines is required.