The Data Link Layer

Chapter 3

• Data Link Layer Design Issues

• Error Detection and Correction
• Elementary Data Link Protocols
• Sliding Window Protocols
• Example Data Link Protocols

Revised: August 2011

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 The Data Link Layer

Application
Responsible for delivering frames of
Transport
information over a single link
Network
• Handles transmission errors and
Link
regulates the flow of data
Physical

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Data Link Layer Design Issues

• Frames »
• Possible services »
• Framing methods »
• Error control »
• Flow control »

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Frames

Link layer accepts packets from the network layer, and

encapsulates them into frames that it sends using the
physical layer; reception is the opposite process

Network

Link
Virtual data path

Physical Actual data path

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 Possible Services

Unacknowledged connectionless service

• Frame is sent with no connection / error recovery
• Ethernet is example

Acknowledged connectionless service

• Frame is sent with retransmissions if needed
• Example is 802.11

Acknowledged connection-oriented service

• Connection is set up; rare

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 Framing Methods

• Byte count »
• Flag bytes with byte stuffing »
• Flag bits with bit stuffing »
• Physical layer coding violations
− Use non-data symbol to indicate frame

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 Framing – Byte count

Frame begins with a count of the number of bytes in it

• Simple, but difficult to resynchronize after an error

Expected
case

Error
case

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 Framing – Byte stuffing

Special flag bytes delimit frames; occurrences of flags in

the data must be stuffed (escaped)
• Longer, but easy to resynchronize after error

Frame
format

Need to escape
extra ESCAPE
bytes too!
Stuffing
examples

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 Framing – Bit stuffing

Stuffing done at the bit level:

• Frame flag has six consecutive 1s (not shown)
• On transmit, after five 1s in the data, a 0 is added
• On receive, a 0 after five 1s is deleted

Data bits

Transmitted bits
with stuffing

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 Error Control

Error control repairs frames that are received in error

• Requires errors to be detected at the receiver
• Typically retransmit the unacknowledged frames
• Timer protects against lost acknowledgements

Detecting errors and retransmissions are next topics.

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Flow Control

Prevents a fast sender from out-pacing a slow receiver

• Receiver gives feedback on the data it can accept
• Rare in the Link layer as NICs run at “wire speed”
− Receiver can take data as fast as it can be sent

Flow control is a topic in the Link and Transport layers.

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Error Detection and Correction

Error codes add structured redundancy to data so errors

can be either detected, or corrected.
Error correction codes:
• Hamming codes »
• Binary convolutional codes »
• Reed-Solomon and Low-Density Parity Check codes
− Mathematically complex, widely used in real systems

Error detection codes:

• Parity »
• Checksums »
• Cyclic redundancy codes »
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Error Bounds – Hamming distance

Code turns data of n bits into codewords of n+k bits

Hamming distance is the minimum bit flips to turn one
valid codeword into any other valid one.
• Example with 4 codewords of 10 bits (n=2, k=8):
− 0000000000, 0000011111, 1111100000, and 1111111111
− Hamming distance is 5

Bounds for a code with distance:

• 2d+1 – can correct d errors (e.g., 2 errors above)
• d+1 – can detect d errors (e.g., 4 errors above)

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 Error Correction – Hamming code

Hamming code gives a simple way to add check bits

and correct up to a single bit error:
• Check bits are parity over subsets of the codeword
• Recomputing the parity sums (syndrome) gives the
position of the error to flip, or 0 if there is no error

(11, 7) Hamming code adds 4 check bits and can correct 1 error

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Error Correction – Convolutional codes

Operates on a stream of bits, keeping internal state

• Output stream is a function of all preceding input bits
• Bits are decoded with the Viterbi algorithm

…111 … 0 1 1
1 0 1

Popular NASA binary convolutional code (rate = ½) used in 802.11

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Error Detection – Parity (1)

Parity bit is added as the modulo 2 sum of data bits

• Equivalent to XOR; this is even parity
• Ex: 1110000  11100001
• Detection checks if the sum is wrong (an error)

Simple way to detect an odd number of errors

• Ex: 1 error, 11100101; detected, sum is wrong
• Ex: 3 errors, 11011001; detected sum is wrong
• Ex: 2 errors, 11101101; not detected, sum is right!
• Error can also be in the parity bit itself
• Random errors are detected with probability ½
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 Error Detection – Parity (2)

Interleaving of N parity bits detects burst errors up to N

• Each parity sum is made over non-adjacent bits
• An even burst of up to N errors will not cause it to fail

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 Error Detection – Checksums

Checksum treats data as N-bit words and adds N check

bits that are the modulo 2N sum of the words
• Ex: Internet 16-bit 1s complement checksum

Properties:
• Improved error detection over parity bits
• Detects bursts up to N errors
• Detects random errors with probability 1-2N
• Vulnerable to systematic errors, e.g., added zeros

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 Error Detection – CRCs (1)
Adds bits so that transmitted frame viewed as a polynomial
is evenly divisible by a generator polynomial

Start by adding
0s to frame
and try dividing

Offset by any reminder

to make it evenly
divisible

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Error Detection – CRCs (2)

Based on standard polynomials:

• Ex: Ethernet 32-bit CRC is defined by:

• Computed with simple shift/XOR circuits

Stronger detection than checksums:

• E.g., can detect all double bit errors
• Not vulnerable to systematic errors

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Elementary Data Link Protocols

• Link layer environment »

• Utopian Simplex Protocol »
• Stop-and-Wait Protocol for Error-free channel »
• Stop-and-Wait Protocol for Noisy channel »

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011
 Link layer environment (1)

Commonly implemented as NICs and OS drivers;

network layer (IP) is often OS software

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 Link layer environment (2)
Link layer protocol implementations use library functions
• See code (protocol.h) for more details

Group Library Function Description

from_network_layer(&packet) Take a packet from network layer to send
Network to_network_layer(&packet) Deliver a received packet to network layer
layer enable_network_layer() Let network cause “ready” events
disable_network_layer() Prevent network “ready” events
Physical from_physical_layer(&frame) Get an incoming frame from physical layer
layer to_physical_layer(&frame) Pass an outgoing frame to physical layer
wait_for_event(&event) Wait for a packet / frame / timer event
start_timer(seq_nr) Start a countdown timer running
Events &
stop_timer(seq_nr) Stop a countdown timer from running
timers
start_ack_timer() Start the ACK countdown timer
stop_ack_timer() Stop the ACK countdown timer

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 Example Data Link Protocols

• Packet over SONET »

• PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) »
• ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop) »

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 Packet over SONET

Packet over SONET is the method used to carry IP

packets over SONET optical fiber links
• Uses PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) for framing

Protocol stacks PPP frames may be split

over SONET payloads

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 PPP (1)

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is a general method for

delivering packets across links
• Framing uses a flag (0x7E) and byte stuffing
• “Unnumbered mode” (connectionless unacknow-
ledged service) is used to carry IP packets
• Errors are detected with a checksum

0x21 for IPv4 IP packet

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 PPP (2)

A link control protocol brings the PPP link up/down

State machine for link control

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 ADSL (1)

Widely used for broadband Internet over local loops

• ADSL runs from modem (customer) to DSLAM (ISP)
• IP packets are sent over PPP and AAL5/ATM (over)

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 ADSL (2)

PPP data is sent in AAL5 frames over ATM cells:

• ATM is a link layer that uses short, fixed-size cells
(53 bytes); each cell has a virtual circuit identifier
• AAL5 is a format to send packets over ATM
• PPP frame is converted to a AAL5 frame (PPPoA)

AAL5 frame is divided into 48 byte pieces, each of

which goes into one ATM cell with 5 header bytes

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 End

Chapter 3

CN5E by Tanenbaum & Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall and D. Wetherall, 2011