3THE DATA LINK LAYER
In this chapter we will study the design principles for the second layer in our model, the data link layer. This study deals with algorithms for achieving reliable, efficient communication of whole units of information called frames (rather than individual bits, as in the physical layer) between two adjacent machines. By adjacent, we mean that the two machines are connected by a communication channel that acts conceptually like a wire (e.g., a coaxial cable, telephone line, or wireless channel). The essential property of a channel that makes it “wire-like” is that the bits are delivered in exactly the same order in which they are sent.
At first you might think this problem is so trivial that there is nothing to study—machine ...
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