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Flow Control
Managing data flow between sender and receiver
Mechanism
Sliding window protocol
Purpose
Prevent buffer overflow
Protocol
TCP window management
Flow Control Simulator
Flow Control Mechanisms
Stop-and-Wait
- • Send one packet, wait for ACK
- • Simple but inefficient
- • Window size = 1
- • High latency impact
Sliding Window
- • Send multiple packets before ACK
- • Dynamic window size
- • Better bandwidth utilization
- • Used in TCP
Key Concepts
Window Size
Maximum number of unacknowledged packets that can be in transit simultaneously.
Acknowledgments
Receiver confirms receipt of data, allowing sender to slide the window forward.
Buffer Management
Prevents receiver buffer overflow by controlling transmission rate.