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Mid-Semester Examination
Communication Networks (EE 706), Spring’23
Feb. 20, 2023; Total: 30 marks; Time: 2 hours
Note:
• You are allowed to use any result discussed in class without proof. For all other results, a
proof needs to be provided.
• You are allowed to use one A4 sheet with handwritten notes on both sides.

Q UESTION 1 (1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 2.5 = 7 MARKS )

Find the total time required to transfer a file of 1.5 × 106 bytes in each of the following cases,
assuming a one-way propagation delay of 40 ms between the sender and the receiver, a packet
size of 1000 bytes, and an initial 2 × RT T delay incurred for “handshaking” before the data
transmission starts. Assume that an RT T equals twice the one-way propagation delay.
(a) The link bandwidth is 10 Mbps, and data packets can be sent continuously.
(b) The bandwidth is 10 Mbps, but after we finish sending each data packet, we must wait for
one RT T before sending the next.
(c) The link allows infinitely fast transmission, but limits bandwidth such that only 20 packets
can be sent per RT T .
(d) Zero transmission time as in (c), but during the first RT T we can send one packet, during
the second RTT we can send two packets, during the third we can send four (23−1 ) packets
and so on.

Q UESTION 2 (2 MARKS )

(a) A 20 kbps satellite link has a one-way propagation delay of 400 ms. The transmitter uses
Go-Back-N with window size 10. Assume that each packet is 100 bytes long and that the
transmission times of ACK packets are negligible. Find the maximum data rate possible.
(b) Do part (a) with the change that Selective Repeat is used in place of Go-Back-N.
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Q UESTION 3 (2 MARKS )

A CSMA/ CD system has four copper twisted-pair segments connected together by three
repeaters. Each segment is 300 metres long. The one-way processing delay at a repeater is 5
microseconds. We wish to operate this system at 10 Mbps. If the speed of the signal in copper
is 2 × 108 m/s, find the minimum size of a packet in such a system which will ensure that a
collision never goes undetected.

Q UESTION 4 (3 MARKS )

Consider a four-node wireless network consisting of nodes A, B, C, and D situated on the

Q UESTION 5 (3 MARKS )

Recall that in the binary exponential backoff algorithm used in Ethernet, each node involved
in the nth collision generates a random number in the set {0, 1, 2, . . . , 2min(n,10) − 1}. Suppose
three nodes A, B, and C are involved in collisions and generate the following random numbers
to resolve their collisions:
A: 0, 2, 1
B: 0, 2, 5, 6
C: 0, 2, 5, 11
If the first collision ends at time t = 0, at which point A, B, and C generate the random number
0 (first number in the above lists), the slot size is one second, each collision lasts for one slot,
and the time required to transmit each packet is three seconds, then when does the successful
transmission for each node complete? Justify your answer.

Q UESTION 6 (4 MARKS )

The stop-and-wait protocol is used to send an infinite sequence of packets from a sender to a
receiver over a network with several intermediate routers. The lengths of different data packets are
independent, identically distributed (i.i.d.) random variables with Probability Density Function
(PDF) fL . The end-to-end delay of a data packet (which includes all transmission, propagation,
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queuing, processing and other delays) is a random variable with PDF gD and the delays of
different data packets are independent. Similarly, the end-to-end delays of different ACK packets
are i.i.d. with PDF gA . Each data packet is independently corrupted with probability Pf and ACKs
are not corrupted. Assume that data packets or ACKs are not lost or re-ordered. Find the average
long-term throughput.

Q UESTION 7 (5 MARKS )

Consider a network of N nodes connected to each other via a shared medium of rate R bps.
Each node always has a packet to send. Time is divided into slots of duration ts each, and
the slot boundaries at all the nodes are aligned. Also, there are alternating contention and data
transmission periods. At the beginning of each contention period, node i ∈ {1, . . . , N } selects
a random backoff of Ki ∈ {0, 1, . . . , M − 1} slots (independently of the other nodes) using the
following Probability Mass Function (PMF):

P (Ki = k) = pk , k ∈ {0, 1, . . . , M − 1}. (1)

Node i continuously senses the medium, and if it does not detect a transmission from another
node until the beginning of the Ki ’th slot, then it starts sending its packet at the beginning of
the Ki ’th slot. Otherwise, it defers its packet transmission. If there is a collision, then it lasts for
one slot and all N nodes select new random backoff values using the PMF in (1) and repeat the
above procedure starting from the slot following the collision. This continues until one of the
nodes successfully gains access to the medium and transmits a data packet. Assume that each
data packet takes l slots to transmit. Find the efficiency of the above protocol.

Q UESTION 8 (2 + 2 = 4 MARKS )

Suppose N transmitters send packets to a common receiver using Slotted ALOHA. Each
transmitter always has a packet to send. Assume that M of the N transmitters use attempt
probability p1 and the remaining N − M transmitters use attempt probability p2 in each slot.
Also, each transmitter uses the same attempt probability in the first attempt and subsequent
attempts, if any, of each packet. Let K1 and K2 be the number of slots, out of k slots, in which
collisions and successful transmissions take place, respectively.
(a) Find the probability mass function (PMF) of K1 , i.e., P (K1 = i) for i ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}.
(b) Find the joint PMF of K1 and K2 , i.e., P (K1 = i, K2 = j) for i, j ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3, . . .}.