NPTEL Online Certification Courses

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Jan 2025

Course Name: Computer Networks and Internet Protocol

Assignment 10 - Week 10 (Jan 2025)
TYPE OF QUESTION: MCQ/MSQ
Number of questions: 10 Total mark: 10 X 1 = 10

QUESTION 1

The CSMA/CD protocol, predominantly used in Ethernet, addresses which of the following
challenges?

a) Efficient encoding and decoding of data signals

b) Synchronization of devices in wireless networks.
c) Detection and management of data collisions in shared media networks.
d) Guaranteeing data delivery across multiple broadcast domains.

Correct Answer: (c)

Detailed solution: The CSMA/CD protocol ensures efficient use of shared media by detecting
collisions and managing retransmissions.

QUESTION 2

Which MAC technique is most suitable for bursty traffic with sporadic transmissions?

a) Synchronous MAC with reserved slots.

b) Asynchronous MAC with round-robin allocation.
c) Token passing in ring topology.
d) Contention-based asynchronous MAC.

Correct Answer: (d)

Detailed solution: Contention-based asynchronous MAC is ideal for sporadic, short transmissions
like those typical of interactive terminal-host traffic, as it is simple to implement and efficient under
light load conditions.
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Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Jan 2025

QUESTION 3

In Go-Back-N ARQ, why must the size of the sender's window be less than 2m , where m is the
number of bits in the sequence number?

a) To prevent out-of-order frames from being accepted by the receiver

b) To allow cumulative acknowledgments to function correctly
c) To ensure the receiver's window size can accommodate all pending frames
d) To avoid ambiguities in the sequence numbers during retransmission

Correct Answer: (d)

Detailed solution: If the window size were equal to or greater than 2m, the same sequence numbers
could be reused before the acknowledgment for earlier frames is received, causing confusion at the
receiver about whether the frames are retransmissions or new ones.

QUESTION 4

What is the minimum frame size for Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), and why is it important?

a) 46 bytes, to prevent collisions from being detected too late

b) 64 bytes, to ensure collision detection within the frame transmission time.
c) 512 bytes, to maximize bandwidth efficiency.
d) 1500 bytes, to support large data payloads.

Correct Answer: (b)

Detailed solution: If the frame size were smaller than 64 bytes, it is possible for the transmission to
complete before a collision is detected, leading to undetected collisions and corrupted data.The frame
size includes a 14-byte header, 46 bytes of payload, and a 4-byte CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check).
 NPTEL Online Certification Courses
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Jan 2025
QUESTION 5

In a Selective Repeat ARQ system with a 4-bit sequence number and a sender's window size of 8, what is
the minimum size of the receiver's buffer to prevent loss of out-of-order frames?

a) 4
b) 8
c) 16
d) 1

Correct Answer: (b)

Detailed Solution:

Selective Repeat ARQ, the sender's and receiver's window sizes are equal and must be at most half of 2�,
where � = 4. 2m / 2 = 16 / 2 = 8. The receiver's buffer size must equal the sender's window size to store
out-of-order frames.

QUESTION 6

A wireless CSMA/CA network uses a backoff algorithm with a contention window size that
doubles after each collision. If the initial contention window size is 32, what is the maximum
contention window size after 4 collisions?

a) 256
b) 512
c) 128
d) 1024

Correct Answer: (b)

Detailed Solution : After n collisions, the contention window size is Initial Size×2n. For n=4:
32×24=32×16=512.

QUESTION 7

In a shared 75 kbps channel, each station transmits a 20-bit frame every 2000 ms. If the network
uses Slotted Aloha, what is the maximum number of stations that can be supported?
 NPTEL Online Certification Courses
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Jan 2025
a) 7500
b) 2775
c) 7000
d) 5000

Correct Answer: (b)

Detailed Solution : Transmission rate per station = 20 bits/2000 ms=10 bits/s.

The number of stations N = 75kbps/10bits/s = 7500. Slotted Aloha has an efficiency of 1/e, or
approximately 0.37. The effective number of stations that can be supported is:
Neffective=7500×0.37=2775

QUESTION 8

Consider a CSMA/CD network where the frame transmission time Tf is much larger than the
propagation delay tp. Which of the following factors affect the efficiency of the network?

(i) Frame size.

(ii) Propagation delay tp.
(iii) Backoff time after a collision.
(iv) Total number of stations.

a) (i), (ii) and (iii)

b) (ii), (iii) and (iv)
c) All are True
d) All are False

Correct Answer: (c)

Detailed Solution :
Frame Size : Larger frames improve efficiency by reducing overhead.
Propagation Delay (tp) : Higher delay increases collision probability, reducing efficiency.
Backoff Time : Longer backoff after collisions leads to idle time, lowering efficiency.
Total Number of Stations : More stations increase contention and collisions, reducing efficiency.
So All are True.

QUESTION 9
 NPTEL Online Certification Courses
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Jan 2025

In a round-robin MAC technique, a network has 10 stations, and each station gets a time slot of 2 ms. If a
station has a data frame of 2 KB to transmit, and the transmission rate is 1 Mbps, how many rounds will it
take for the station to complete its transmission?

a) 4
b) 8
c) 16
d) 20

Correct Answer: (b)

Detailed Solution :
Time to transmit 2 KB (16 Kb) at 1 Mbps: (16Kb/1Mbps) = 16ms
Number of time slots needed of each 2 ms : (16/2) = 8
Number of rounds (10 stations = 10 slots per round) : 8 slots / (1 slot per round) = 8

QUESTION 10

A network administrator is analyzing a collision on a traditional Ethernet network using CSMA/CD. They
observe the following sequence:

(i) A node transmits a frame after sensing the medium is free.

(ii) A collision occurs, detected by voltage fluctuations.
(iii) A jam signal is transmitted, and the node applies a backoff algorithm.

If the backoff limit is reached without successful transmission, what should the node do next?

a) Retry immediately without further sensing.

b) Send another jam signal and continue to backoff indefinitely.
c) Abort the transmission and report a failure.
d) Switch to a synchronous MAC protocol.

Correct Answer: (c)

Detailed Solution : If the backoff limit is exceeded in CSMA/CD, the node aborts the transmission
and reports a failure. This prevents indefinite retries that could congest the network.