EtherMac

compound module

Ethernet MAC layer. MAC performs transmission and reception of frames. See the IEtherMac for the Ethernet MAC layer general informations. Doesn't do encapsulation/decapsulation; see Ieee8022Llc and EtherEncap for that.

Supported variations:

10Mb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex, coaxial cable or twisted pair)
100Mb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex)
1Gb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex)
10Gb Ethernet
40Gb Ethernet
100Gb Ethernet

Supports all three Ethernet frame types. (It handles EtherFrame message class; specific frame classes (Ethernet-II, IEEE 802.3) are subclassed from that one.) RAW mode (only used by the IPX protocol) is not supported.

Expected environment:

phys$i and phys$o should be connected to the "network"
upperLayerIn and upperLayerOut are usually connected to EtherLlc (in hosts) or MacRelayUnit (in a switch)

Operation

Processing of frames received from higher layers:

if src address in the frame is empty, fill it out
frames get queued up until transmission
transmit according to the CSMA/CD protocol
can send PAUSE message if requested by higher layers (PAUSE protocol, used in switches).

Processing of frames incoming from the network:

receive according to the CSMA/CD protocol
CRC checking (frames with the error bit set are discarded).
respond to PAUSE frames
in promiscuous mode, pass up all received frames; otherwise, only frames with matching MAC addresses and broadcast frames are passed up.

The module does not perform encapsulation or decapsulation of frames -- this is done by higher layers (Ieee8022Llc and EtherEncap).

When a frame is received from the higher layers, it must be an EtherFrame, and with all protocol fields filled out (including the destination MAC address). The source address, if left empty, will be filled in. Then frame is queued and transmitted according to the CSMA/CD protocol.

Data frames received from the network are EtherFrames. They are passed to the higher layers without modification. Also, the module properly responds to PAUSE frames, but never sends them by itself -- however, it transmits PAUSE frames received from upper layers. See PAUSE handling for more info.

For more info see Ethernet Model Overview.

Disabling and disconnecting

If the MAC is not connected to the network ("cable unplugged"), it will start up in "disabled" mode. A disabled MAC simply discards any messages it receives. It is currently not supported to dynamically connect/disconnect a MAC.

Queueing

In routers, MAC relies on an external queue module (see IPacketQueue) to model finite buffer, implement QoS and/or RED, and requests packets from this external queue one-by-one.

In hosts, no such queue is used, so MAC contains an internal queue to store packets waiting for transmission. Conceptually, the queue is of infinite size, but for better diagnostics one can specify a hard limit in the packetCapacity parameter -- if this is exceeded, the simulation stops with an error.

Physical layer messaging

Please see Messaging on the physical layer.

See also: EtherFrame, EthernetIIFrame, EtherFrameWithLlc, Ieee802Ctrl

Usage diagram

The following diagram shows usage relationships between types. Unresolved types are missing from the diagram.

Inheritance diagram

The following diagram shows inheritance relationships for this type. Unresolved types are missing from the diagram.

Parameters

Name	Type	Default value	Description
interfaceTableModule	string		The path to the InterfaceTable module
displayStringTextFormat	string	"rate: %b\nsent: %s, rcvd: %r\nqueue: %q, drop: %d"
sendRawBytes	bool	false	when true packets are serialized into a sequence of bytes before sending out
promiscuous	bool	false	if true, all packets are received, otherwise only the ones with matching destination MAC address
duplexMode	bool	true	selects full-duplex (true) or half-duplex (false) operation
frameBursting	bool	true	enable/disable frame bursting mode in Gigabit Ethernet
mtu	int	1500B
stopOperationExtraTime	double	-1s	extra time after lifecycle stop operation finished
stopOperationTimeout	double	2s	timeout value for lifecycle stop operation

Properties

Name	Value	Description
lifecycleSupport
class	EtherMac
display	i=block/rxtx

Gates

Name	Direction	Description
upperLayerIn	input	to EtherEncap or IMacRelayUnit
upperLayerOut	output	to EtherEncap or IMacRelayUnit
phys	inout	to physical layer or the network

Signals

Name	Type	Unit
receptionStateChanged	long
collision	long
backoffSlotsGenerated	long
rxPkOk	inet::Packet
packetReceivedFromLower	inet::Packet
packetReceivedFromUpper	inet::Packet
txPausePkUnits	long
packetDropped	Packet
packetSentToLower	inet::Packet
packetSentToUpper	inet::Packet
rxPausePkUnits	long
transmissionStateChanged	long

Statistics

Name	Title	Source	Record	Interpolation Mode
passedUpPk	packets passed to higher layer	packetSentToUpper	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
collision	collision		count, vector	none
packetDropInterfaceDown	packet drop: interface down	packetDropReasonIsInterfaceDown(packetDropped)	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
backoffSlotsGenerated	backoff		count, vector	none
rxPkOk	packets received OK	rxPkOk	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
packetDropNotAddressedToUs	packet drop: not addressed to us	packetDropReasonIsNotAddressedToUs(packetDropped)	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
packetReceivedFromUpper	packet bytes from higher layer	packetReceivedFromUpper	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
txPausePkUnits	pause units sent		count, sum, vector	none
txPk	packets transmitted	packetSentToLower	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none
rxPausePkUnits	pause units received		count, sum, vector	none
packetDropIncorrectlyReceived	packet drop: incorrectly received	packetDropReasonIsIncorrectlyReceived(packetDropped)	count, sum(packetBytes), vector(packetBytes)	none

Source code

//
// Ethernet MAC layer. MAC performs transmission and reception of frames.
// See the ~IEtherMac for the Ethernet MAC layer general informations.
// Doesn't do encapsulation/decapsulation; see ~Ieee8022Llc and ~EtherEncap for
// that.
//
// Supported variations:
// - 10Mb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex, coaxial cable or twisted pair)
// - 100Mb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex)
// - 1Gb Ethernet (duplex and half-duplex)
// - 10Gb Ethernet
// - 40Gb Ethernet
// - 100Gb Ethernet
//
// Supports all three Ethernet frame types. (It handles ~EtherFrame message class;
// specific frame classes (Ethernet-II, IEEE 802.3) are subclassed from that one.)
// RAW mode (only used by the IPX protocol) is not supported.
//
// Expected environment:
// - phys$i and phys$o should be connected to the "network"
// - upperLayerIn and upperLayerOut are usually connected to ~EtherLlc (in hosts)
//   or ~MacRelayUnit (in a switch)
//
// <b>Operation</b>
//
// Processing of frames received from higher layers:
// - if src address in the frame is empty, fill it out
// - frames get queued up until transmission
// - transmit according to the CSMA/CD protocol
// - can send PAUSE message if requested by higher layers (PAUSE protocol,
//   used in switches).
//
// Processing of frames incoming from the network:
// - receive according to the CSMA/CD protocol
// - CRC checking (frames with the error bit set are discarded).
// - respond to PAUSE frames
// - in promiscuous mode, pass up all received frames;
//   otherwise, only frames with matching MAC addresses and
//   broadcast frames are passed up.
//
// The module does not perform encapsulation or decapsulation of frames --
// this is done by higher layers (~Ieee8022Llc and ~EtherEncap).
//
// When a frame is received from the higher layers, it must be an ~EtherFrame,
// and with all protocol fields filled out
// (including the destination MAC address). The source address, if left empty,
// will be filled in. Then frame is queued and transmitted according
// to the CSMA/CD protocol.
//
// Data frames received from the network are EtherFrames. They are passed to
// the higher layers without modification.
// Also, the module properly responds to PAUSE frames, but never sends them
// by itself -- however, it transmits PAUSE frames received from upper layers.
// See <a href="ether-pause.html">PAUSE handling</a> for more info.
//
// For more info see <a href="ether-overview.html">Ethernet Model Overview</a>.
//
// <b>Disabling and disconnecting</b>
//
// If the MAC is not connected to the network ("cable unplugged"), it will
// start up in "disabled" mode. A disabled MAC simply discards any messages
// it receives. It is currently not supported to dynamically connect/disconnect
// a MAC.
//
//
// <b>Queueing</b>
//
// In routers, MAC relies on an external queue module (see ~IPacketQueue)
// to model finite buffer, implement QoS and/or RED, and requests packets
// from this external queue one-by-one.
//
// In hosts, no such queue is used, so MAC contains an internal
// queue to store packets waiting for transmission.
// Conceptually, the queue is of infinite size, but for better diagnostics
// one can specify a hard limit in the packetCapacity parameter -- if this is
// exceeded, the simulation stops with an error.
//
//
// <b>Physical layer messaging</b>
//
// Please see <a href="physical.html">Messaging on the physical layer</a>.
//
// @see ~EtherMacFullDuplex, ~EthernetInterface, ~IPacketQueue, ~EtherEncap, ~Ieee8022Llc
// @see ~EtherFrame, ~EthernetIIFrame, ~EtherFrameWithLlc, ~Ieee802Ctrl
//
module EtherMac like IEtherMac
{
    parameters:
        string interfaceTableModule;   // The path to the InterfaceTable module
        string displayStringTextFormat = default("rate: %b\nsent: %s, rcvd: %r\nqueue: %q, drop: %d");
        bool sendRawBytes = default(false); // when true packets are serialized into a sequence of bytes before sending out
        bool promiscuous = default(false);  // if true, all packets are received, otherwise only the
                                            // ones with matching destination MAC address
        bool duplexMode = default(true);    // selects full-duplex (true) or half-duplex (false) operation
        bool frameBursting = default(true); // enable/disable frame bursting mode in Gigabit Ethernet
        int mtu @unit(B) = default(1500B);
        @lifecycleSupport;
        double stopOperationExtraTime @unit(s) = default(-1s);    // extra time after lifecycle stop operation finished
        double stopOperationTimeout @unit(s) = default(2s);    // timeout value for lifecycle stop operation
        @class(EtherMac);
        @display("i=block/rxtx");

        @signal[rxPkOk](type=inet::Packet);
        @signal[txPausePkUnits](type=long);
        @signal[rxPausePkUnits](type=long);
        @signal[packetDropped](type=Packet);
        @signal[packetSentToLower](type=inet::Packet);
        @signal[packetReceivedFromLower](type=inet::Packet);
        @signal[packetSentToUpper](type=inet::Packet);
        @signal[packetReceivedFromUpper](type=inet::Packet);
        @signal[collision](type=long);
        @signal[backoffSlotsGenerated](type=long);    // slotNumber value emitted
        @signal[transmissionStateChanged](type=long); // enum=MacTransmitState
        @signal[receptionStateChanged](type=long); // enum=MacReceiveState

        @statistic[txPk](title="packets transmitted"; source=packetSentToLower; record=count,"sum(packetBytes)","vector(packetBytes)"; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[rxPkOk](title="packets received OK"; source=rxPkOk; record=count,"sum(packetBytes)","vector(packetBytes)"; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[passedUpPk](title="packets passed to higher layer"; source=packetSentToUpper; record=count,"sum(packetBytes)","vector(packetBytes)"; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[txPausePkUnits](title="pause units sent"; record=count,sum,vector; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[rxPausePkUnits](title="pause units received"; record=count,sum,vector; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[packetReceivedFromUpper](title="packet bytes from higher layer"; source=packetReceivedFromUpper; record=count,"sum(packetBytes)","vector(packetBytes)"; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[packetDropIncorrectlyReceived](title="packet drop: incorrectly received"; source=packetDropReasonIsIncorrectlyReceived(packetDropped); record=count,sum(packetBytes),vector(packetBytes); interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[packetDropInterfaceDown](title="packet drop: interface down"; source=packetDropReasonIsInterfaceDown(packetDropped); record=count,sum(packetBytes),vector(packetBytes); interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[packetDropNotAddressedToUs](title="packet drop: not addressed to us"; source=packetDropReasonIsNotAddressedToUs(packetDropped); record=count,sum(packetBytes),vector(packetBytes); interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[collision](title="collision"; record=count,vector; interpolationmode=none);
        @statistic[backoffSlotsGenerated](title="backoff"; record=count,vector; interpolationmode=none);

    gates:
        input upperLayerIn @labels(EtherFrame);    // to ~EtherEncap or ~IMacRelayUnit
        output upperLayerOut @labels(EtherFrame);  // to ~EtherEncap or ~IMacRelayUnit
        inout phys @labels(EtherFrame); // to physical layer or the network
    submodules:
        queue: <default("EtherQueue")> like IPacketQueue {
            parameters:
                packetCapacity = default(1000);
                @display("p=100,100");
        }
}

File: src/inet/linklayer/ethernet/EtherMac.ned