arbitration

Arbitration is an access procedure fornetworks in which users allocate access rights to each other in accordance with a mutual agreement.

In arbitration, each device connected to a network generally has the same rights. Only the negotiation of one device with all others secures it temporary access. Rights distribution can favor certain users by assigning priorities. In this process, each device is assigned a priority, which gives it a priority in accessing the network or a network resource.

The arbitration method is used, among other things, in the FC topology in the arbitrated loop but also in IEEE 1394, in the SCSI interface, in field buses such as the CAN bus or the SPMI interface. It is generally used to distribute access rights to limited resources, e.g. processors, devices, lines, usage times, which are allocated as fairly as possible by arbitration.