A Slotted Ring Protocol for High-Speed Local and Metropolitan Area Networks

In this thesis, we propose a new access scheme for high-speed local and metropolitan area networks (LANs and MANs), the Slotted Ring with window service. We show that this access scheme exhibits many desirable performance properties including high capacity, low packet delays, and fairness among the stations that is insensitive to the network speed, distance, and number of stations. This is because window service equalizes the waiting time among the stations and imposes a global order of service that is approximately First-Come-First-Server (FCFS). We also consider a modified scheme in which busy slots are released by the destination stations. We find that this modification can double the system throughput without significantly affecting the packet delay. Our new scheme compares favorably with existing protocols for large and/or high speed networks. It offers a mean packet delay that is much lower than either a token ring or Cyclic Reservation Multiple Access (CRMA), and comparable to D..