Research Paper Template

Posted by Ravikiran K.S. on January 1, 2006

Introduction:

Research Preface:

Need, Relevance - At present more effort is going into research and standardization of protocols in emerging network technologies, both wired and wireless, to cater to the growing need for more bandwidth and network availability. These demands are largely generated by new categories of application services including IPTV, VoIP, IMS etc. Ability to provide higher bandwidth is restricted/limited by the capacity of carriers. As a result, research effort is extended towards making more efficient and capable network carriers in both wired and wireless domains. Current research is an effort to identify and study the interdependency/correlation between MAC, LLC and application layers which may benefit in future design of MAC and LLC layers to enhance the efficiency of carriers.

Literature Survey Summary -

Following is listed the summary of research papers studied: TODO

Following is listed the summary of current technology fronts studied: 1. Gigabit Ethernet 2. Metro Ethernet 3.

Objective of Research:

Type of Research Design - Correlational research.

Variables - A. MAC layer (dependent variable) B. LLC layer (dependent variable) C. App layer (independent variable)

To be investigated: 1. Are A and B interdependent on each other? if yes, what kind of dependency they exhibit? 2. Is A dependent on C? If yes, what kind? 3. Is B dependent on C? If yes, what kind? 4. In view of 2 and 3, what new interdependencies between A and B come into light? 5. If nature of any two variables is known, can we predict the requirement of third variable? what are limitations?

Problem statement:

Identify the interdependency between MAC, LLC and Application layers and describe the nature of dependency.

Research Hypothesis:

  1. MAC and LLC layers are interdependent on each other.
  2. MAC and LLC layers are dependent on Application layer.
  3. Application layer is not dependent on MAC or LLC layer.

Operational definition of terms used:

  1. Protocols - Definitions/Methods describing the implementation of whole or part of the solution required for single or set of layers definied in OSI network model.
  2. OSI - Open Systems Interconnect, a computer interconnection standard for network based communication, proposed by IEEE.
  3. MAC - Media Access Control layer, a sub layer of Datalink layer in OSI stack.
  4. LLC - Logical Link Control layer, a sub layer of Datalink layer in OSI stack.
  5. App - Application layer, topmost layer of OSI stack that implements some user oriented application protocols like HTTP, FTP, TELNET etc and interfaces with user applications.
  6. Bandwidth - A general term used to signify the throughput of a computer network channel.
  7. IPTV - Internet Television, a kind of application related to streaming of audio, video over internet.
  8. IMS - Internet Messaging Service, another kind of internet based application.
  9. VoIP - Voice Over IP, a kind of application that deals with transmission of audio over internet.
  10. dependency - Dependency in context of layers refer to exchange of information, performance requirements, delays in information propagation from one layer to other and any other related requirements.
  11. performace - Performace refers to efficiency of a given protocol layer to behave well and provide maximum throughput under given conditions.

Tools and Techniques used:

TODO

Population and Sample under consideration:

Study can be done on hundreds of implementations in Telecommunication and Core networking domains. But in light of time and hardware constraint, only few of the technologies are selected for study. They are mentioned as under.

Population: All protocols, standards and implementations that represent MAC, LLC and Application layers. Sample: TODO

Limitations of Study:

Scope of Research: This study confines itself to study of only MAC, LLC and App layers in above mentioned areas only. It doesn’t attempy to resolve the general dependencies and related side-effects.

Assumptions:

TODO

Description:

Details of Survey:

Study of System: MAC layer protocol layer defines following properties: Main - * Provide addressing and channel access control mechanisms for network nodes to communicate within a multipoint network[4]. Sub - * Detection of the underlying physical connection (wired or wireless), or the existence of the other endpoint or node * Handshaking Negotiation of various connection characteristics * Defining frame format of a message * Error detection (corrupt frames, collision during transmission), and error recovery (retransmission). * Establish and Termination of the session and/or connection.

Channel Access Control Mechanisms: The channel access control mechanism relies on a physical layer multiplex scheme. A multiple access protocol is not required in a switched full-duplex network, such as today’s switched Ethernet networks, but is often available in the equipment for compatibility reasons.

Packet Mode: 1. Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) - a) Collision Detection (CD) b) Collision Avoidance (CA) 2. Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA) - a) Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance for wireless (MACAW)

Circuit Mode: 1. Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) - a) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) b) Wavelength Frequency Division Multiple Access (WDMA) 2. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) - a) Multi-Frequency Time Division Multiple Access (MF-TDMA) b) Dynamic Time Division Multiple Access (D-TDMA) 3. Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) - 4. Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (SSMA) a) Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) b) Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) c) Orthogonal Frequency Hopping Multiple Access (OFHMA) d) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) e) Multi carrier Code Division Multiple Access (MC-CDMA)

Challenges in MAC design: * Hidden terminal problem * Exposed node problem * Distributed control

The LLC sublayer is primarily concerned with: * Multiplexing protocols transmitted over the MAC layer (when transmitting) and demultiplexing them (when receiving). * Providing flow and error control

Following are abstracts of the research papers I surveyed on research topic:

TODO

Explanation of Problem statement:

MAC and LLC layers for the two parts of Datalink layer which is responsible for transmission, reception, error and flow control of packets over network. They are normally optimized to achieve better throughput and less delay through the physical channel. The goal is to identify i) whether the design decisions for MAC layer can influence operation and design of LLC layer? ii) whether the design decisions for LLC layer can influence operation and design of MAC layer? iii) whether the design of Application layer can individually influence the design/operation of MAC or LLC layer? iv) whether the design of Application layer can combinedly influence the design/operation of MAC and LLC?

Explanation of Hypothesis:

  1. Hypothesis 1 states that variables MAC and LLC are dependent and can influence each other.
  2. Hypothesis 2 states that variables MAC and LLC are dependent and can be influenced by independent variable App layer.
  3. Hypothesis 3 states that variable App layer is an independent variable and cannot be influenced by dependent variables MAC and LLC.

Explanation of Tools and Techniques:

TODO

Explanation of Sampling criteria:

TODO

Explanation of Assumptions:

TODO

Experiment and Data collection:

Research Study:

TODO

Experiment details:

TODO

Data Collected:

TODO

Analysis of Data:

TODO

Experimental Results:

TODO

Conclusion:

Conclusion summary:

TODO

Problems identified:

TODO

Generalizations drawn:

TODO

Suggestions for further study:

TODO

Appendix:

Bibilography:

  1. IEEE P802.3ba 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet Task Force - http://www.ieee802.org/3/ba/
  2. ITU-T Recommendation G.8261/Y.1361 for converged ethernet links that can deliver voice, data, and video over single link - http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/aap/sg15aap/history/g.8261/index.html
  3. Metro Ethernet Forum Technical Specifications - http://metroethernetforum.org/page_loader.php?p_id=84&index=1
  4. MAC layer responsibilities - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Access_Control
  5. Channel Access Mechanisms - http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-manet-term-00
  6. IETF standards - http://tools.ietf.org/html/
  7. Transport of IP over 802.16 - http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mandin-ip-over-80216-ethcs-00
  8. IEEE standard for MAC and LLC layers in OFDMA - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.16-2004.pdf
  9. MAC layer for FDDI networks - http://www.rfc-editor.org/std/std36.txt http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1103 http://rfc.giga.net.tw/rfc1188
  10. MAC layer for Ethernet networks - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.3-2005_Cor_2-2007.pdf
  11. IEEE standard for Media Access Control (MAC) Bridges - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.17a-2004.pdf
  12. IEEE standard for Logical Link Control (LLC) - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.2-1998.pdf
  13. WLAN MAC and PHY Specifications Amendment 1: Radio Resource Measurement of Wireless LANs - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.11k-2008.pdf
  14. WLAN MAC and PHY specifications amendment 2: fast basic service set (bss) - http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.11r-2008.pdf