Real-Time Communication over Broadcast Networks

Abstract: Today the utilization of all kind of multimedia services in networks increases and due to this demand for real-time communication gets higher for every day. One of the most common protocols used today is Ethernet. It is of interest to find real-time protocols that are useful together with already existing protocols since it is expensive to rebuild the network infrastructure. Several new protocols have been proposed to solve the upcoming problems. The objective of this project is to make an inventory and a comparison between Ethernet and these new protocols. During this project four different protocols capability to fulfill the demands for real-time communication have been studied and compared with Ethernet. Three of the protocols are built on the same basic technique as Ethernet and these are PCSMA, CSMA-DCR and DOD-CSMA-CD. The fourth protocol is ATM and it transmits in a different way over communication networks. The analysis of this project is pointing out advantages, similarities and differences between the protocols from a real-time perspective. All four protocols are more suitable for real-time requirements than Ethernet.