Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

This paper describes the design parameters and the approaches used in the construction of a Network Access Arrangement (NAA). The NAA connects a network node (host) to the communications medium. The details of the design and implementation are presented, along with some rationale for the design choices. The design is biased towards implementation in Large Scale Integration (LSI) , and allows variation in message format and transmission protocol.

This freedom is explored in regard to building both ring networks, such as the Distributed Computer System (DCS) [1], and contention nets, such as Ethernet [2]. The NAA will initially be used to implement access to a ring network, similar to the DCS at the University of California, Irvine. This application is examined in detail.