Assigned Reading 1: HDLC (7.3)

In your own words, answer the following questions:
  1. What is the purpose of the flag field?
  2. Give a sequence of 24 binary digits with two occurences of five 1's. Underline these two occurences in the sequence. Show the sequence after aplying the bit stuffing algorithm of HDLC. Underline the modified sub-sequences.
  3. Define data transparency.
  4. What are the three frame types supported by HDLC? Describe each in your own words.
Type your answers using a text editor/word processor. Print and hand in a hard copy at the beginning of the lecture on Nov. 8.

Due date: Nov. 8, 11:30.

Assigned Reading 2: High-speed Ethernet (16.2)

In your own words, answer the following questions:
  1. 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T4 both use UTP. Besides the data rates (10 Mbps vs. 100 Mbps), what are the main differences between these two types of Ethernet?
  2. In the context of Ethernet, what is full-duplex operation? What are the required changes to traditional Ethernet to make Fast Ethernet work in full-duplex mode?
  3. What is the medium access control (MAC) protocol used for Gigabit Ethernet? How is it different from the MAC protocol used in 10-Mbps Ethernet?
  4. What are the physical layer options defined for 10-Gbps Ethernet? Give the maximum distance of each option.
  5. What is the goal of multilane distribution in 100-Gbps Ethernet and how is it implemented?
Type your answers using a text editor/word processor. Print and hand in a hard copy at the beginning of the lecture on Nov. 15.

Due date: Nov. 15, 11:30.