Exponential backoff
Exponential backoff is an algorithm that uses feedback to multiplicatively decrease the rate of some process, in order to gradually find an acceptable rate.
In a variety of computer networks, binary exponential backoff or truncated binary exponential backoff refers to an algorithm used to space out repeated retransmissions of the same block of data, often as part of network congestion avoidance.
Examples are the retransmission of frames in carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) and carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) networks, where this algorithm is part of the channel access method used to send data on these networks. In Ethernet networks, the algorithm is commonly used to schedule retransmissions after collisions. The retransmission is delayed by an amount of time derived from the slot time and the number of attempts to retransmit.
After c collisions, a random number of slot times between 0 and 2c − 1 is chosen. For the first collision, each sender will wait 0 or 1 slot times. After the second collision, the senders will wait anywhere from 0 to 3 slot times (inclusive). After the third collision, the senders will wait anywhere from 0 to 7 slot times (inclusive), and so forth. As the number of retransmission attempts increases, the number of possibilities for delay increases exponentially.
The 'truncated' simply means that after a certain number of increases, the exponentiation stops; i.e. the retransmission timeout reaches a ceiling, and thereafter does not increase any further. For example, if the ceiling is set at i = 10 (as it is in the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD standard), then the maximum delay is 1023 slot times. This is useful because these delays cause other stations that are sending to collide as well. There is a possibility that, on a busy network, hundreds of people may be caught in a single collision set.
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