Answer: RTS (Request to Send) and CTS (Clear to Send) signals are mainly used in CSMA/CA to have co-ordinate access to the channel, and making sure that only one node or device sends data at a time to prevent the collisions
Steps demonstrating how RTS and CTS are used to avoid collision in CSMA/CA
Step 1: Channel Checking
Firstly, before sending the data, the device using CSMA/CA first checks if the channel is idle or not.
Step 2: RTS Frame
When the channel becomes in the idle state, the actual transmission device sends the RTS frame to the destination receiving devices. This RTS frame includes the actual length of the data packet, which is to be send.
Step 3: CTS Response
When the ITS frame is received, the CTS frame back since this receiving signal back to the RTS frame.
Step 4: Data Transmission
RTS data is been received to the CTS frame. The transmitting device processes to send the actual data packet. These transmission occurs without encountering any collisions on the other devices have been informed to defer their transmission during this transmission time.
Step 5: Backoff Mechanism
If there is any collision, then the pack of mechanism is used in. this mechanism, the colliding devices wait for the random duration of time before attempting to retransmit the data.
Step 6: Repeat Process
The RTS and CTS processes are repeated till each of the data transmission is completed and also helps in minimizing the collisions in CSMA/CA based networks.