Communication

Communication system

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Communications protocol

In telecommunications, a communication protocol is a system of rules that allow two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules syntax, semantics andsynchronization of communication and possible error recovery methods. Protocols may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of both.^[1]

Communicating systems use well-defined formats (protocol) for exchanging various messages. Each message has an exact meaning intended to elicit a response from a range of possible responses pre-determined for that particular situation. The specified behavior is typically independent of how it is to be implemented. Communications protocols have to be agreed upon by the parties involved.^[2] To reach agreement, a protocol may be developed into a technical standard. A programming language describes the same for computations, so there is a close analogy between protocols and programming languages: protocols are to communications what programming languages are to computations.^[3]

Multiple protocols often describe different aspects of a single communication. A group of protocols designed to work together are known as a protocol suite; when implemented in software they are a protocol stack.

Internet communication protocols are published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IEEE handles wired and wireless networking, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) handles other types. The ITU-T handles telecommunications protocols and formats for the public switched telephone network(PSTN). As the PSTN and Internet converge, the standards are also being driven towards convergence.

Basic required of protocol

Getting the data across a network is only part of the problem for a protocol. The data received has to be evaluated in the context of the progress of the conversation, so a protocol has to specify rules describing the context. These kind of rules are said to express the syntax of the communications. Other rules determine whether the data is meaningful for the context in which the exchange takes place. These kind of rules are said to express the semantics of the communications.

Messages are sent and received on communicating systems to establish communications. Protocols should therefore specify rules governing the transmission. In general, much of the following should be addressed:^[12]

• Data formats for data exchange. Digital message bitstrings are exchanged. The bitstrings are divided in fields and each field carries information relevant to the protocol. Conceptually the bitstring is divided into two parts called the header area and the data area. The actual message is stored in the data area, so the header area contains the fields with more relevance to the protocol. Bitstrings longer than the maximum transmission unit(MTU) are divided in pieces of appropriate size.^[13]
• Address formats for data exchange. Addresses are used to identify both the sender and the intended receiver(s). The addresses are stored in the header area of the bitstrings, allowing the receivers to determine whether the bitstrings are intended for themselves and should be processed or should be ignored. A connection between a sender and a receiver can be identified using an address pair (sender address, receiver address). Usually some address values have special meanings. An all-1s address could be taken to mean an addressing of all stations on the network, so sending to this address would result in a broadcast on the local network. The rules describing the meanings of the address value are collectively called anaddressing scheme.^[14]
• Address mapping. Sometimes protocols need to map addresses of one scheme on addresses of another scheme. For instance to translate a logical IP address specified by the application to an Ethernet hardware address. This is referred to as address mapping.^[15]
• Routing. When systems are not directly connected, intermediary systems along theroute to the intended receiver(s) need to forward messages on behalf of the sender. On the Internet, the networks are connected using routers. This way of connecting networks is called internetworking.
• Detection of transmission errors is necessary on networks which cannot guarantee error-free operation. In a common approach, CRCs of the data area are added to the end of packets, making it possible for the receiver to detect differences caused by errors. The receiver rejects the packets on CRC differences and arranges somehow for retransmission.^[16]
• Acknowledgements of correct reception of packets is required for connection-oriented communication. Acknowledgements are sent from receivers back to their respective senders.^[17]
• Loss of information - timeouts and retries. Packets may be lost on the network or suffer from long delays. To cope with this, under some protocols, a sender may expect an acknowledgement of correct reception from the receiver within a certain amount of time. On timeouts, the sender must assume the packet was not received and retransmit it. In case of a permanently broken link, the retransmission has no effect so the number of retransmissions is limited. Exceeding the retry limit is considered an error.^[18]
• Direction of information flow needs to be addressed if transmissions can only occur in one direction at a time as on half-duplex links. This is known as Media Access Control. Arrangements have to be made to accommodate the case when two parties want to gain control at the same time.^[19]
• Sequence control. We have seen that long bitstrings are divided in pieces, and then sent on the network individually. The pieces may get lost or delayed or take different routes to their destination on some types of networks. As a result, pieces may arrive out of sequence. Retransmissions can result in duplicate pieces. By marking the pieces with sequence information at the sender, the receiver can determine what was lost or duplicated, ask for necessary retransmissions and reassemble the original message.^[20]
• Flow control is needed when the sender transmits faster than the receiver or intermediate network equipment can process the transmissions. Flow control can be implemented by messaging from receiver to sender.^[21]