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Stop and Wait

The document discusses the Stop and Wait protocol, which is a simple flow control protocol where data transmission occurs unidirectionally and one packet is sent at a time. It works by having the sender wait for an acknowledgment of receipt before sending the next packet. While simple, it is inefficient and can experience problems if packets or acknowledgments are lost or delayed.

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Subhas Halder
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15 views4 pages

Stop and Wait

The document discusses the Stop and Wait protocol, which is a simple flow control protocol where data transmission occurs unidirectionally and one packet is sent at a time. It works by having the sender wait for an acknowledgment of receipt before sending the next packet. While simple, it is inefficient and can experience problems if packets or acknowledgments are lost or delayed.

Uploaded by

Subhas Halder
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Stop and Wait Protocol

Before understanding the stop and Wait protocol, we first know about the error control
mechanism. The error control mechanism is used so that the received data should be
exactly same whatever sender has sent the data. The error control mechanism is
divided into two categories, i.e., Stop and Wait ARQ and sliding window. The sliding
window is further divided into two categories, i.e., Go Back N, and Selective Repeat.
Based on the usage, the people select the error control mechanism whether it is stop
and wait or sliding window.

What is Stop and Wait protocol?


Here stop and wait means, whatever the data that sender wants to send, he sends the
data to the receiver. After sending the data, he stops and waits until he receives the
acknowledgment from the receiver. The stop and wait protocol is a flow control
protocol where flow control is one of the services of the data link layer.

It is a data-link layer protocol which is used for transmitting the data over the noiseless
channels. It provides unidirectional data transmission which means that either sending
or receiving of data will take place at a time. It provides flow-control mechanism but
does not provide any error control mechanism.

The idea behind the usage of this frame is that when the sender sends the frame then
he waits for the acknowledgment before sending the next frame.

Primitives of Stop and Wait Protocol


The primitives of stop and wait protocol are:

Sender side

Rule 1: Sender sends one data packet at a time.

Rule 2: Sender sends the next packet only when it receives the acknowledgment of
the previous packet.

Therefore, the idea of stop and wait protocol in the sender's side is very simple, i.e.,
send one packet at a time, and do not send another packet before receiving the
acknowledgment.

Receiver side
Rule 1: Receive and then consume the data packet.
Rule 2: When the data packet is consumed, receiver sends the acknowledgment to the
sender.

Therefore, the idea of stop and wait protocol in the receiver's side is also very simple,
i.e., consume the packet, and once the packet is consumed, the acknowledgment is
sent. This is known as a flow control mechanism.

Working of Stop and Wait protocol

The above figure shows the working of the stop and wait protocol. If there is a sender
and receiver, then sender sends the packet and that packet is known as a data packet.
The sender will not send the second packet without receiving the acknowledgment of
the first packet. The receiver sends the acknowledgment for the data packet that it has
received. Once the acknowledgment is received, the sender sends the next packet. This
process continues until all the packet are not sent. The main advantage of this protocol
is its simplicity but it has some disadvantages also. For example, if there are 1000 data
packets to be sent, then all the 1000 packets cannot be sent at a time as in Stop and
Wait protocol, one packet is sent at a time.

Disadvantages of Stop and Wait protocol


The following are the problems associated with a stop and wait protocol:
1. Problems occur due to lost data

Suppose the sender sends the data and the data is lost. The receiver is waiting for the
data for a long time. Since the data is not received by the receiver, so it does not send
any acknowledgment. Since the sender does not receive any acknowledgment so it
will not send the next packet. This problem occurs due to the lost data.

In this case, two problems occur:

o Sender waits for an infinite amount of time for an acknowledgment.


o Receiver waits for an infinite amount of time for a data.

2. Problems occur due to lost acknowledgment


Suppose the sender sends the data and it has also been received by the receiver. On
receiving the packet, the receiver sends the acknowledgment. In this case, the
acknowledgment is lost in a network, so there is no chance for the sender to receive
the acknowledgment. There is also no chance for the sender to send the next packet
as in stop and wait protocol, the next packet cannot be sent until the acknowledgment
of the previous packet is received.

In this case, one problem occurs:

o Sender waits for an infinite amount of time for an acknowledgment.

3. Problem due to the delayed data or acknowledgment

Suppose the sender sends the data and it has also been received by the receiver. The
receiver then sends the acknowledgment but the acknowledgment is received after
the timeout period on the sender's side. As the acknowledgment is received late, so
acknowledgment can be wrongly considered as the acknowledgment of some other
data packet.

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