Fall 2014 Computer Communication Networks

Midterm Exam#2_sol (Exam date: 2014/12/03)

Question 1 (5%):
Given the dataword 1010111110 and the divisor 10011 for CRC. Show
the generation of the codeword at the sender site (using binary division).
See HW5 Question2.
Remainder is 1101.
Codeword is 10101111101101.
Question 2 (15%):
Consider the CRC-8 polynomial (x8 + x2 + x + 1), answer the following
questions:
a. Does it detect a single error? Defend your answer. (2%)
b. Does it detect a burst error of size 6? Defend your answer. (2%)
c. What is the probability of detecting a burst error of size 9? (3%)
d. What is the probability of detecting a burst error of size 15? (3%)
e. Draw the feedback shift register implementation. (5%)
a. It has more than one term and the coefficient of x0 is 1. It can detect
a single-bit error.
b. The polynomial is of degree 8, which means that the number of
checkbits (remainder) r = 8. It will detect all burst errors of size 8 or
less.
c. Burst errors of size 9 are detected most of the time, but they slip by
with probability (1/2)r1 or (1/2)81 0.008. This means 8 out of 1000
burst errors of size 9 are left undetected.
d. Burst errors of size 15 are detected most of the time, but they slip by
with probability (1/2)r or (1/2)8 0.004. This means 4 out of 1000
burst errors of size 15 are left undetected.
e.

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Question 3 (6%):
A system uses the Go-Back-N ARQ Protocol with a window size of 7. If
each packet carries 1000 bits of data, how long does it take to send 1
million bits of data if the distance between the sender and receiver is
5000 Km and the propagation speed is 2 108 m/s? Ignore transmission,
waiting, and processing delays. We assume no data or control frame is
lost or damaged.
In the worst case, we send a full window of size 7 and then wait for the
acknowledgment of the whole window. We need to send 1000/7 143
windows. We ignore the overhead due to the header and trailer.
Data frame trip time = 5000 km / 200,000 km = 25 ms
ACK transmission time = 0 (It is usually negligible)
ACK trip time = 5000 km / 200,000 km = 25 ms
Delay for 1 window = 25 + 25 = 50 ms.
Total delay = 143 50 ms = 7.150 s
Question 4 (6%):
What is the Hamming distance between two codewords? What is the
minimum Hamming distance of a code?
The Hamming distance between two words (of the same size) is the
number of differences between the corresponding bits. The Hamming
distance can easily be found if we apply the XOR operation on the two
words and count the number of 1s in the result. The minimum Hamming
distance is the smallest Hamming distance between all possible pairs in a
set of words.

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Question 5 (10%):
In a CSMA/CD network with a data rate of 10 Mbps, the maximum
distance between any station pair is found to be 2500 m for the correct
operation of the collision detection process. What should be the
maximum distance if we increase the data rate to 100 Mbps? To 1 Gbps?
To 10 Gbps?
Let us find the relationship between the collision domain (maximum
length of the network) and the data rate. We know that
Tfr = (frame size) / (data rate) = 2 Tp = 2 distance / (propagation
speed)
or
distance = [(frame size) (propagation speed)] / [2 (data rate)]
or
distance = K / (data rate)
This means that distance is inversely proportional to the data rate (K is a
constant). When the data rate is increased, the distance or maximum
length of network or collision domain is decreased proportionally. In
Example 12.5, we mentioned that the maximum distance for a data rate
of 10 Mbps is 2500 meters. We calculate the maximum distance based
on the above proportionality relationship.
Data rate = 10 Mbps maximum distance = 2500 m
Data rate = 100 Mbps maximum distance = 250 m
Data rate = 1 Gbps maximum distance = 25 m
Data rate = 10 Gbps maximum distance = 2.5 m
This means that when the data rate is very high, it is almost impossible
to have a network using CSMA/CD.

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Question 6 (8%):
In an 802.11 network, station A sends one data frame (not fragmented)
to station B. What would be the value of D field (in microseconds) that
needs to be set for the NAV period in each of the following frames: RTS,
CTS, data, and ACK? Assume that the transmission time for RTC, CTS, and
ACK is 4 s each. The transmission time for the data frame is 40 s and
the SIFS duration is set to 1 s. Ignore the propagation time. Note that
each frame needs to set the duration of NAV for the rest of time the
medium needs to be reserved to complete the transaction. (2% for each
answer)
RTS = TSIFS + TCTS + TSIFS + TData + TSIFS + TACK = 3*1 + 4 + 40 + 4 = 51s
CTS = TSIFS + TData + TSIFS + TACK = 2*1 + 4 + 40 + 4 = 46s
Data = TSIFS + TACK = 5s
Ack = 0 s
Question 7 (8%):
Compare and contrast CSMA/CD with CSMA/CA.
In CSMA/CD, the protocol allows collisions to happen. If there is a
collision, it will be detected, destroyed, and the frame will be resent.
CSMA/CA uses a technique that prevents collision.

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Question 8 (4%):
Explain the following terms
a. Hidden station problem
b. Exposed station problem
a.

b.

Question 9 (8%):
a. Stations in a slotted ALOHA network send frames of size 1000 bits at
the rate of 1 Mbps. What is the vulnerable time for this network?
b. Consider building CSMA/CD network running at 1 Gbps over a 1-km
cable with no repeaters. The signal speed in the cable is 200,000
km/sec. What is the minimum frame size?
a. Vulnerable time = frame time = 1000 [bits] / 1 [Mbps] = 1 [ms]
b. Minimum frame size = 2*propagation delay*transmission rate
= 2*1 [km]/ 200,000 [km/sec]*1 [Gbps]
= 10,000 [bits]
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Question 10 (10%)
Assume that there are only two stations, A and B, in a CSMA/CD network.
The distance between the two stations is 2000 m and the propagation
speed is 2 x 108 m/s. If station A starts transmission at time t1:
(1) Does the protocol allow station B to start transmitting at time t1+ 8
s? If the answer is yes, what will happen?
(2) Does the protocol allow station B to start transmitting at time t1+ 11
s? If the answer is yes, what will happen?
Assume the frame time is slightly larger than 1 s.
(1) Yes, since As signal hasnt arrived. B can sense nothing from the
carrier. Hence, the protocol will allow B to send, and collision will
happen at t1+ 9.
(2) No, since B can sense that A is still transmitting.
Question 11 (10%)
How HDLC protocol performs flow control and error control?
See slide 11.40
Flow control: Receive Ready (RR) and Receive Not Ready (RNR)
Error control: Reject (REJ) and Selective Reject (SREJ)
Question 12 (10%):
Derive the throughput of slotted ALOHA, assuming Poisson arrival
process. What is the maximum achievable throughput? Assume that the
traffic load is G per X seconds, where X is the frame transmission time.
Poisson random variable:

P[a station tries to send during the vulnerable time and no other
stations tries to send during the vulnerable time]
( : arrival rate, T: frame time)

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To derive the maximum throughput, we differentiate the result above

with variable G. Then set the differential to 0, and solve the value of G.

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