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Network Technology

Methods of sharing transmission media

CSMA/CD is short for Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection, a set of rules determining how network devices respond when two devices attempt to use a data channel simultaneously (called a collision). Standard Ethernet networks use CSMA/CD. This standard enables devices to detect a collision. After detecting a collision, a device waits a random delay time and then attempts to re-transmit the message. If the device detects a collision again, it waits twice as long to try to re-transmit the message. This is known as exponential back off.


CSMA/CA is short for Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance, a network contention protocol that listens to a network in order to avoid collisions, unlike CSMA/CD that deals with network transmissions once collisions have been detected. CSMA/CA contributes to network traffic because, before any real data is transmitted, it has to broadcast a signal onto the network in order to list...

Posted by: Ryan Wilkins

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