Tree LANs with Collision Avoidance: Station and Switch Protocols
Abstract Packet collisions and their resolution create a performance bottleneck in random access LANs. A hardware solution to this problem is to use collision avoidance switches. These switches allow the implementation of random access protocols without the penalty of collisions among packets. We describe some tree LANs that use collision avoidance switches. These LANs have the potential of combining the benefits of random access (low delay when traffic is light; simple, distributed, and therefore robust, protocols) with concurrency of transmission and excellent network utilization. The collision avoidance LANs we describe are broadcast star, CASB Tree (Collision Avoidance Single Broadcast Tree), CAMB Tree (Collision Avoidance Multiple Broadcast Tree), and Tinker Tree.