CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD

(Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) The LAN access method used in Ethernet. When a device wants to gain access to the network, it checks to see if the network is quiet (senses the carrier). If it is not, it waits a random amount of time before retrying. If the network is quiet and two devices access the line at exactly the same time, their signals collide. When the collision is detected, they both back off and each wait a random amount of time before retrying. See CSMA/CA and Ethernet.

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CSMA/CD

(computer science)

A method of controlling multiaccess computer networks in which each station on the network senses traffic and waits for it to clear before sending a message, and two devices that try to send concurrent messages must both step back and try again. Abbreviation for carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection.

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CSMA/CD - Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detect. The low level network arbitration protocol used on Ethernet. Nodes wait for quiet on the net before starting to transmit and listen while they are transmitting. If two nodes transmit at once the data gets corrupted. The nodes detect this and continue to transmit for a certain length of time to ensure that all nodes detect the collision. The transmitting nodes then wait for a random time before attempting to transmit again thus minimising the chance of another collision. The ability to detect collision during transmission reduces the amount of bandwidth wasted on collisions compared with simple ALOHA broadcasting.