A novel and simple MAC protocol for high speed passive optical LANs

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new MAC protocol for Gigabit Local Area Networks, called the Request Contention Multiple Access (RCMA) protocol. RCMA is proposed to operate in the 10BASE-FP Ethernet network topology at a gigabit data rate. It does not require the sophisticated WDM technology. Unlike the current IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet MAC protocol, RCMA is efficient and stable for a wide range of user numbers. Furthermore, it can support service differentiation with no additional overhead. Its performance under the saturation condition is analyzed and compared with performance of the current IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet MAC protocol, and significant performance advantage is demonstrated for RCMA. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002.