CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection. It is a central part of the original Ethernet design and describes how multiple stations connected to a shared medium (such as a coaxial cable) can share the transmission channel without centralized control, using "carrier sensing" to avoid most collisions, and using collision detection with randomized backoff for those collisions that could not be avoided.

– Main.SimonLeinen - 15 Dec 2005