Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance

Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) in computer networking, is a link layer multiple access method in which carrier sensing is used. Under CSMA/CA, nodes attempt to avoid collisions by beginning transmission only after the channel is sensed to have no traffic. When they do transmit, nodes transmit frames in their entirety.

This technique is primarily used in wireless networks, where the alternative with collision detection CSMA/CD is not possible due to wireless transmitters that cannot effectively detect other transmissions while they themselves are transmitting.

CSMA/CA is unreliable due to the hidden node problem.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.