What is the concept of Framing in data link layer?

Answer 1

The data link layer packs bits which have been moved by the Physical Layer, into frames, so that each frame is distinguishable from another whiles being transmitted to destination.

A point-to-point connection between two computers or devices consists of a wire in which data is transmitted as a stream of bits. However, these bits must be framed into discernible blocks of information. Framing is a function of the data link layer which provides a way for a sender to transmit a set of bits that are meaningful to the receiver. Ethernet, token ring, frame relay, and other data link layer technologies have their own frame structures. Frames have headers that contain information such as error-checking codes.

There are three different types of framing, each of which provides a way for the sender to tell the receiver where the block of data begins and ends:

• Byte-oriented framing Computer data is normally stored as alphanumeric characters that are encoded with a combination of 8 bits (1 byte). This type of framing differentiates one byte from another. It is an older style of framing that was used in the terminal/mainframe environment. Examples of byte-oriented framing include IBM's BISYNC protocol.
• Bit-oriented framing This type of framing allows the sender to transmit a long string of bits at one time. IBM's SDLC (Synchronous Data Link Control) and HDLC (High-level Data Link Control) are examples of bit-oriented protocols. Most LANs use bit-oriented framing. There is usually a maximum frame size. For example, Ethernet has a maximum frame size of 1,526 bytes. The beginning and end of a frame is signaled with a special bit sequence (01111110 for HDLC). If no data is being transmitted, this same sequence is continuously transmitted so the end systems remain synchronized.
• Clock-based framing In a clock-based system, a series of repetitive pulses are used to maintain a constant bit rate and keep the digital bits aligned in the data stream. SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) is a synchronous system in which all the clocks in the network are synchronized back to a master clock reference. SONET frames are then positioned within the clocked stream.

The advantage of using frames is that data is broken up into recoverable chunks that can easily be checked for corruption. If a problem occurs during the transmission and some frames get corrupted, only the lost frames will be retransmitted, and not the entire set of data.

The usual approach and prime purpose of the Data Link Layer is to break the bit stream up into discrete frames for the purpose of Error Detection or Correction

By Louis Khim Burns

Answer 2

Frames Are The Small data Units Created By Data Link Layer And The Process Of Creating Frames By The Data Link Layer Is Known As Framing.