
1022410 – 0001 Rev. 2
3–36 UMOD hardware theory of operation
M&C multidrop interface
Figure 3-20 shows the multidrop connection. All modems operate
independently (in other words, there is no master or slave).
Figure 3-20
Multidrop bus
MODEM 1
TX
RX
MODEM 2
TX
RX
MODEM
n
v
32
TX
RX
MULTIDROP BUS
On the multidrop bus, a transmit frame can be received by all
modems, including the originating modem. This broadcast feature
enables the originator to verify whether or not the transmission is
corrupted. A modem preparing to transmit will check the bus for
traffic before sending, if the bus is already in use, the transmission
will be retried after a random delay.
The modem initiating the transmission controls the multidrop bus
until the message is entirely transmitted. Each frame is protected
by a one-byte checksum to guarantee data integrity. If more than
one UMOD tries to transmit a frame at the same time or within a
very close interval, the data will be corrupted and thus discarded
by the receiving UMODs.
Traffic contention on the multidrop bus
Access to the multidrop bus is contention-based. That is, every
modem has equal access to the bus. Contention occurs when two
modems want to transmit a message at the same time. Using a
protocol similar to the Ethernet Carrier Sense Multiple
Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) helps avoid most
contention problems on the multidrop bus. CSMA/CD protocol
does the following:
•
It causes the sender to listen for traffic before transmitting,
and to transmit only when no other UMOD is transmitting.
•
During a transmission the sender will listen for data
collisions, abort transmission if they occur, and reschedule
the transmission.