Reliable communication on data links
John M. Spinelli, Decision Systems. · 1988
The problem of sending a set of data packets from a source to a destination across a single data link is considered. Reliable communication is defined as-the delivery of such a set of packets in order, and without any losses or duplicates. Protocols for transmitting and receiving data packets are modeled as automata with outputs. It is shown that when the sending and receiving automata can be "synchronized," reliable communication can be achieved. The problem of communicating reliably is studied when the sending and receiv-ing nodes may fail and loose their memory. It is shown that when there is no upper bound on the packet transmission delay, reliable communication and synchroniza-tion are impossible. Conversely, it is shown that when there is an upper bound on delay, synchronization and reliable communication can be achieved.