Question

Explain in brief the following access method :

Contention

Answer 1

Contention

• In contention, any computer in the network can transmit at any time (first come first served).
• This system breaks down when two computers attempt to transmit at the same time. This is a case of the collision.
• To avoid the collision, carrier sensing mechanism is used. Here each computer listens to the network before attempting to transmit. If a network is busy, it waits until network quits down.
• In carrier detection, computers continue to listen to the network as they transmit. It computer detects another signal that interferes with the signal it is sending, it stops transmitting. Both computers then wait the random amount of time and attempt to transmit.
• Contention methods are most popular media access control method on LANs