Media Access Control

(networking)

(MAC) The lower sublayer of the OSI data link layer. The interface between a node's Logical Link Control and the network's physical layer. The MAC differs for various physical media.

See also MAC Address, Ethernet, IEEE 802.3, token ring.

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MAC layer

(Media Access Control layer) The part of the data link protocol that controls access to the physical transmission medium in IEEE 802 networks (LANs). The common MAC layer standards are CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA, which are used in Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Earlier MAC layers were the token passing methods in Token Ring, FDDI and MAP. MAC layer functionality is built into the network adapters, which includes a unique serial number that identifies the vendor and adapter (see OUI). See data link protocol, OSI model, CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA and Ethernet.

The Bottom Layers

In IEEE 802 networks, the data link layer is split into two sublayers. The Logical Link Control (LLC) is an interface to the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC is also physical hardware, because the processes have been embedded into the transceiver chips. See IEEE 802, SNA, OSI model and Token Ring.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Most of the previous work about IEEE 802.15.4e focused on the description of three media access control mechanisms, and did not have a comprehensive analysis and evaluation to the performance of IEEE 802.15.4e MAC.

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Switching initially operated at Layer 2 of the OSI Model, which meant frames moved through the switch based on media access control (MAC)-layer address, similar to the way bridges functioned.

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The CD server should have a unique MAC (Media Access Control) address that will be recognizable when using any of these three automatic configuration devices.