This part of ISO/IEC 9314 specifies the Physical Layer Protocol (PHY), the upper sublayer of the Physical Layer, for Fibre Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).

FDDI provides a high-bandwidth (100 Mbit/s), general-purpose interconnection among information processing systems, subsystems and peripheral equipment, using fibre optics or other transmission media. FDDI can be configured to support a sustained data transfer rate of at least 80 Mbit/s
(10 Mbyte/s). FDDI provides connectivity for many nodes distributed over distances of many kilometers in extent. Certain default parameter values for FDDI (e.g. timer settings) are calculated on the basis of up to 1 000 transmission links or up to 200 km total fibre-path length (typically
corresponding to 500 nodes and 100 km of dual fibre cable, respectively); however, the FDDI protocols can support much larger networks by increasing these parameter values.

As shown in figure 1, FDDI consists of

a) Physical Layer (PL), which is divided into two sublayers:

1) A Physical Medium Dependent (PMD), which provides the digital baseband point-to-point communication between nodes in the FDDI network. The PMD provides all services necessary to transport a suitably coded digital bit stream from node to node. The PMD defines and characterizes the fibre-optic drivers and receivers, medium-dependent code requirements, cables, connectors, power budgets, optical bypass provisions, and physicalhardware-related characteristics. It specifies the point of interconnectability for conforming FDDI attachments. The initial PMD standard defines attachment to multi-mode fibre. Alternative PMD sublayer standards are being developed for attachment to other transmission media and for mapping to Synchronous Optical Network (SONET),

2) A Physical Layer Protocol (PHY), which provides connection between the PMD and the Data Link Layer. PHY establishes clock synchronization with the upstream code-bit data stream and decodes this incoming code-bit stream into an equivalent symbol stream for use by the higher layers. PHY provides encoding and decoding between data and control indicator symbols and code bits, medium conditioning and initializing, the synchronization of incoming and outgoing code-bit clocks, and the delineation of octet boundaries as required for the transmission of information to or from higher layers. Information to be transmitted on the medium is encoded by the PHY using a group transmission code. The definition of PHY is contained in this part of ISO/IEC 9314.

b) A Data Link Layer (DLL), which is divided into two or more sublayers:

1) An optional Hybrid Ring Control (HRC), which provides multiplexing of packet and circuit switched data on the shared FDDI medium. HRC comprises two internal components, a Hybrid Multiplexer (H-MUX) and an Isochronous MAC (I-MAC). H-MUX maintains a synchronous 125 µs cycle structure and multiplexes the packet and circuit switched data streams, and I-MAC provides access to circuit switched channels,

2) A Media Access Control (MAC), which provides fair and deterministic access to the medium, address recognition, and generation and verification of frame check sequences. Its primary function is the delivery of packet data, including frame generation, repetition, and removal,

3) An optional Logical Link Control (LLC), which provides a common protocol for any required packet data adaptation services between MAC and the Network Layer. LLC is not specified by FDDI,

4) An optional Circuit Switching Multiplexer (CS-MUX), which provides a common protocol for any required circuit data adaptation services between I-MAC and the Network Layer. CS-MUX is not specified by FDDI.

c) A Station Management (SMT), which provides the coordination necessary at the node level to manage the processes under way in the various FDDI layers such that a node may work cooperatively on a ring. SMT provides services such as control of configuration management,
fault isolation and recovery, and scheduling policies.

The definition of PHY as contained in this part of ISO/IEC 9314 is designed to be as independent as possible from the actual physical medium.

This part of ISO/IEC 9314 is an optional alternative to the original part of ISO/IEC 9314 on PHY (ISO 9314-1) for implementations without an (optional) HRC, and is required for implementations with an HRC. Implementations that conform to this part of ISO/IEC 9314 shall also be interoperable with implementations that conform to ISO 9314-1 if the additional capability of Hybrid mode operation (as defined in this part of ISO/IEC 9314) is not being used. Implementers are encouraged to read ISO 9314-1 in addition to this part of ISO/IEC 9314.

The set of FDDI standards specifies the interfaces, functions and operations necessary to ensure interoperability between conforming FDDI implementations. This part of ISO/IEC 9314 is a functional description. Conforming implementations may employ any design technique that is interoperable.