CSMA

Abstract

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• Stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access
• Basically multiple Host share the same Carrier to communicate

How does computers know if they should process the incoming data

When one computer sends a piece of data to another computer, the other computers sharing the same carrier will also receive the data. This can be solved using MAC Address. The computer only processes the data when the recipient address matches it’s MAC address in the data.

Carrier

• Refers to any shared transmission medium
• Copper wire in the case of Ethernet
• Air carrying radio waves for Wi-Fi

Multiple Access

• Refers to many computers can send Data over the same Carrier simultaneously

Collision

• Happens more than one computer on the Carrier sand Data at the same time
• Data in the carrier will get messed up, requires a re-send
• Can be detected by listening on the signals on the carrier

Collision among computers

Handled by Exponential Backoff.