Simple token ring local area network

Abstract

The implementation of a simple token ring system is described. A token ring is a form of local area network in which hosts must capture the token, a unique bit pattern, to use the communications medium. Many existing token ring implementations designate a separate host as a monitor station for the ring. Thus ring initialization and recovery are centralized, so it the monitor is down the ring becomes unusable. Our aim was to build a simple cheap token ring which would have advantages over an Ethernet-style local area network in terms of guaranteed access time upper bounds. We also attempted to decentralize initialization and recovery by giving each host the ability to initialize and repair the ring.