Performance evaluation of high-speed self-token ring LAN

Abstract

The fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) is now widely accepted as the follow-on LAN for IEEE 802.3 (the Ethernet) and 802.5 (the token ring) LANs. However, the advent of more high-speed LANs is eagerly expected to support higher performance requirements. In this paper, we describe a new ring access control scheme adopting multiple-tokens, referred to as the self-token protocol. In the protocol, each station has private tokens, called self-tokens, and has a fixed length register to prevent packets on a ring from collision. After approximate analysis of throughput-transfer delay characteristics, we show that this protocol is attractive and suitable for a gigabit LAN. We also show that fairness of this protocol is kept good for a low number of self-tokens.<>