Flow Control in Data Link Layer

As we know, different station or nodes in the network have different capacity and transfer speed; for the purpose of successful communication between these stations, the flow control protocols come into the picture.

Approaches To Flow Control

Flow Control can be handled through the following approaches.

1. Feedback-based Flow Control: In these protocols, the sender sends frames to the receiver and then waits for an acknowledgment signal from the receiver. This approach is used in the data link layer.

2. Rate-based Flow Control: These kinds of protocols do not use any feedback or acknowledgment signals. These protocols have built-in mechanisms to limit or restrict the rate of data transmission from sender to receiver. This approach is mostly used in the network layer and the transport layer.

 Flow Control Protocols in Data Link Layer

There are basically two types of techniques used to control the flow of data. One for the Noiseless channel and the other for the Noisy Channel, as shown in the following figure.

All protocols are explained in upcoming lectures.