Added design of Ethernet information, Aloha and addressing

diff --git a/introduction.tex b/introduction.tex
index 2a638db9200ff54f008d9322149715095bf1e89d..80a5924cd4eb2b88f4c7d54a71f9d795b3b3b822 100644 (file)
--- a/introduction.tex
+++ b/introduction.tex
@@ -40,6 +40,14 @@ The top layer of the protocol stack in the Internet Protcol Suite model and the
 
 \subsection{Ethernet}
 
+Ethernet is the most widely deployed and used Local Area Networking - LAN - technology currently in the market. While the physical layer of the standard has undergone a number of iterations, the data link layer protocol has remained largely stagnant due to the lack of motivation and a desire for interopability with current equipment.
+
+Ethernet was first described in a memo on May 22, 1973 at Xerox PARC by Bob Metcalfe who designed it to interconnect workstations and printers in a modern computer network. \cite[p.~125{spurgeon} It was to be a shared medium network based on the previous work by the University of Hawaii in the late 1960's with the Aloha network. \cite{abramson}. Ethernet pioneered the technology by incorporating CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection). This allowed the original Ethernet networks to be a single shared medium network where all the computers were connected together using a single cable. Every computer on the network would recieve all the packets and, based on the header, the Ethernet controller would inform the system when a packet arrived which was for the host in question. 
+
+This relied on each computer having a unique address to which it could be sent packets, which the controller would listen out for. This was also the only required property - the address did not need to be transferable, it did not need to describe any information about the owner and it did not need to contain routing information. In order to provide this guarantee, Ethernet controllers were allocated a 48 bit long address. The first three bytes - 24 bits, were assigned by the IEEE and identify the type of address and the manufacturer. The last three bytes are assigned by the manufacturer, with the manufacturer guaranteeing that the address was unique, with an additional block of of addresses allocated when a manufacturer had run out.
+
+ 
+
 \subsection{MOOSE}
 
 \subsection{Simulation}