What Is Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)?

He is a very close friend who does many things for you. Lugs around multiple items of heavy loads and never do complain. Wait what? Let's not beat the bush and get straight to the point of this. Carrier sense is your friend. If you're on a Wi-Fi network and want to send a message to your friend across the room, how do you know they're not already talking? Or, even worse, that they're not talking to someone else and ignoring you? The answer is carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) protocols. It senses whether or not the "carrier," the medium through which information travels, is being used before transmitting any data. The carrier might be an Ethernet cable, or it might be a wireless Wi-Fi connection. In either case, CSMA is implemented to prevent collisions between devices trying to transmit simultaneously. CSMA is a system of checks and balances in a world where only one device can transmit signals on the network. It works when a device needs to initiate or transfer data over the network. Before moving, each CSMA must check or listen to the network for any other transmissions that may be in progress. There are different types of collision avoidance mechanisms. One of the most common ones is "CSMA/CA" (Collision Avoidance). It is a protocol that allows each device to listen to the network to detect if it is being actively used. Once it sees that the network is free, it starts transmitting its data. Another type of collision avoidance mechanism is the "EDCA" (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access), which works at the hardware level. EDCA automatically detects when a device starts transmitting and allows only one device to communicate simultaneously. It's like what happens at parties: everyone wants to talk at once, and no one knows when to stop talking!