What is Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)?

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) is a network protocol for carriertransmission that operates in the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. It senses or listens whether the shared channel for transmission is busy or not, and transmits if the channel is not busy. Using CMSA protocols, more than one users or nodes send and receive data through a shared medium that may be a single cable or optical fiber connecting multiple nodes, or a portion of the wireless spectrum.

Working Principle

When a station has frames to transmit, it attempts to detect presence of the carrier signal from the other nodes connected to the shared channel. If a carrier signal is detected, it implies that a transmission is in progress. The station waits till the ongoing transmission executes to completion, and then initiates its own transmission. Generally, transmissions by the node are received by all other nodes connected to the channel.

Since, the nodes detect for a transmission before sending their own frames,collision of frames is reduced. However, if two nodes detect an idle channel at the same time, they may simultaneously initiate transmission. This would cause the frames to garble resulting in a collision.