Types of Data Link Protocols
Data Link Protocols are divided into two
categories:
Asynchronous Protocols
Synchronous Protocols
Asynchronous Protocols
Asynchronous protocols treat each character in a
bit stream independently.
These protocols are used in modems.
They use start and stop bits, and variable gaps
between characters.
They are slower than synchronous protocols in
transmitting data.
Asynchronous Protocols
The different asynchronous protocols are:
XMODEM
YMODEM
ZMODEM
Block Asynchronous Transmission (BLAST)
Kermit
XMODEM
It is a half duplex stop & wait protocol.
It is used for telephone line communication
between PCs.
The sender sends a frame to receiver & waits for
ACK frame.
The receiver can send one cancel signal (CAN) to
abort the transmission.
The frame format of XMODEM is:
SOH Header Data CRC
1 Byte 2 Bytes 128 Bytes
XMODEM
The various fields of frame are:
SOH: It is start of header. It is 1 byte field.
Header: It contains the sequence number. It is 2
bytes in length.
Data: This field holds 128 bytes of data.
CRC: It is Cyclic Redundancy Check. This field
checks the errors in data field.
YMODEM
This protocol is similar to XMODEM with the
following major differences:
Two cancel signals (CAN) are used to abort the
transmission.
The data field is 1024 bytes long.
ITU-T CRC-16 is used for error checking.
ZMODEM
It is a combination of XMODEM and YMODEM.
BLAST
BLAST is more powerful than XMODEM.
It is a full duplex protocol.
It uses sliding window flow control.
Kermit
It is a terminal program as well as file transfer
protocol.
It is similar in operation to XMODEM, except that
sender has to wait for a negative
acknowledgement (NAK) before it starts
transmission.
Synchronous Protocols
Synchronous Protocols take the whole bit stream
and divide it into characters of equal size.
These protocols have high speed and are used
for LAN, WAN and MAN.
Synchronous protocols are categorized into two
groups:
Character-Oriented Protocol
Bit-Oriented Protocol
Character-Oriented Protocol
It interprets frame as a series of characters.
These are also known as Byte-Oriented
Protocols.
Control information is inserted as separate control
frames or as addition to existing data frame.
The example of character-oriented protocol is
Binary Synchronous Communication (BSC)
developed by IBM.
Bit-Oriented Protocol
It interprets frame as a series of bits.
Control information can be inserted as bits
depending on the information to be contained in
the frame
Bit-oriented protocol can pack more information
into shorter frames.
The examples of bit-oriented protocol are:
Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC)
High Level Data Link Control (HDLC)
Synchronous Data Link Control
(SDLC) Protocol
SDLC protocol was developed by IBM in 1975.
After developing SDLC, IBM submitted it to
American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and
to International Standard Organization (ISO) for
acceptance.
ANSI modified it to ADCCP (Advanced Data
Communication Control Procedure.
ISO modified it to HDLC (High Level Data Link
Control).
Synchronous Data Link Control
(SDLC) Protocol
The frame format of SDLC is:
01111110 01111110
Flag Address Control User Data ECF Flag
8-Bit 8-Bit 16-Bit
The flag sequence of 8-bits 01111110 marks the
beginning and ending of the frame.
Address field contains the address of the
receiver.
Control field carries the sequence number,
acknowledgement, requests and responses.
Synchronous Data Link Control
(SDLC) Protocol
The frame format of SDLC is:
01111110 01111110
Flag Address Control User Data ECF Flag
8-Bit 8-Bit 16-Bit
The user data field carries the data and is of
variable length.
ECF stands for Error Checking Field and is of 16-
bits. It is used for error control.
High Level Data Link Control
(HDLC) Protocol
HDLC came into existence after ISO modified the
SDLC protocol.
It is a bit-oriented protocol that supports both half
and full duplex communication.
Systems using HDLC are characterized by:
Station Types
Configuration.
Response Modes
Station Types
To make HDLC protocol applicable to various
network configurations, three types of stations
have been defined:
Primary Station
Secondary Station
Combined Station
Primary Station
It has complete control over the link at any time.
It has the responsibility of connecting &
disconnecting the link.
The frames sent by primary station are called
commands.
Secondary Station
All the secondary stations work under the control
of primary station.
The frames sent by secondary station are called
responses.
Combined Station
A combined station can behave either as primary
or as secondary station.
It can send commands as well as responses.
Configuration
Configuration defines how the various stations
are connected to a link.
There are three possible configurations:
Unbalanced Configuration
Symmetrical Configuration
Balanced Configuration
Unbalanced Configuration
This type of configuration exists if one station is
primary and other is secondary.
Unbalanced Configuration
It can further be of two types:
Point-to-Point Unbalanced Configuration:
If there is one primary and one secondary station.
Multipoint Unbalanced Configuration:
If there is one primary and many secondary stations.
Symmetrical Configuration
In this configuration, both sites contain two
stations: one primary and one secondary.
Primary station of one site is linked with
secondary station of the other and vice versa.
Primary Primary
Command
Response
Secondary Secondary
Command
Response
SiteA Site B
Balanced Configuration
In this configuration, both sites have combined
stations.
These combined stations are connected with
single link.
This single link can be controlled by either station.
Response Modes
HDLC supports three modes of communication
between stations:
Normal Response Mode (NRM)
Asynchronous Response Mode (ARM)
Asynchronous Balanced Mode (ABM)
Normal Response Mode (NRM)
In this mode, primary station controls the link.
Secondary station seeks permission from primary
before transmitting the data.
Asynchronous Response Mode
(ARM)
In this mode, if channel is idle, secondary station
may initiate the transmission without seeking
permission from the primary.
If any secondary station wants to communicate
with other secondary station, the transmission is
done via primary station only.
Asynchronous Balanced Mode
(ABM)
This type of mode involves combined stations.
There is no primary-secondary relationship, all
stations are equal.
Therefore, either of the combined station can
initiate the transmission without seeking
permission from the other.
Frame Structure in HDLC
Frame in HDLC can have six fields:
01111110 01111110
Flag Address Control Information FCS Flag
8-Bit 8-Bit 8/16-Bit Variable 16-Bit 8-Bit
Flag Field: It is the 8-bit field that contains
01111110. It marks the beginning and end of a
frame.
Address Field: This field contains the address of
the receiver. It is 8-bit long.
Frame Structure in HDLC
Frame in HDLC can have six fields:
01111110 01111110
Flag Address Control Information FCS Flag
8-Bit 8-Bit 8/16-Bit Variable 16-Bit 8-Bit
Control Field: It carries the sequence number,
acknowledgements, requests and responses. It
can be of 8-bit or 16-bit.
Information Field: It contains user data. Its
length is different for different networks.
Frame Structure in HDLC
Frame in HDLC can have six fields:
01111110 01111110
Flag Address Control Information FCS Flag
8-Bit 8-Bit 8/16-Bit Variable 16-Bit 8-Bit
FCS Field: FCS stands for Frame Check
Sequence. It is the error detection field and is 16-
bit long. It contains either 16-bit CRC or 32-bit
CRC.
Types of Frames in HDLC
HDLC defines three types of frames:
Information Frame (I-Frame):
I-Frames carry user data, and control information about user’s
data.
Supervisory Frame (S-Frame):
S-Frames carry flow & error control information.
Unnumbered Frame (U-Frame):
U-Frames are reserved for system management.
They are used to exchange session management & control
information between the two connected devices.
