ModernEthernet Technologies

Abstract

Ethernet has emerged from a multiple access protocol used in a local area environment to a ubiquitous transport technology reaching into metro and wide area networks. The technology and architecture of Ethernet has gone through many changes since it was invented in the 1970s. This paper reviews the latest development of Ethernet technologies. Section 1 introduces the Ethernet development trend. Section 2 reviews the general Ethernet concepts, which include architecture of Ethernet with respect to the OSI reference model, Ethernet MAC frame format, Ethernet addressing schemes, the CSMA/CD protocol and the concept of repeaters. Modern Ethernet is based on a hubbed architecture in which stations are connected to a switch hub. Functions of Ethernet switches are discussed in Section 3. Section 4 covers the development of the Ethernet physical layer and the technologies used to implement Ethernet devices. Section 5 is devoted to 10Gigabit Ethernet which is the latest Ethernet Standard involving advanced fiber optic technologies. In section 6, we discuss the work on Ethernet for the First Mile (EFM) that the IEEE802.3 Standard Group has initiated for the purpose of providing Ethernet services through economical copper and optical fiber access networks. The research work on Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPON) has been discussed in detail in this section. Section 7 concludes the paper.