HDLC

Short for High-level Data Link Control, a transmission protocol used at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI seven layer model for data communications. The HDLC protocol embeds information in a data frame that allows devices to control data flow and correct errors. HDLC is an ISO standard developed from the Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) standard proposed by IBM in the 1970's.

For any HDLC communications session, one station is designated primary and the other secondary. A session can use one of the following connection modes, which determine how the primary and secondary stations interact.

Normal unbalanced: The secondary station responds only to the primary station.

Asynchronous: The secondary station can initiate a message.

Asynchronous balanced: Both stations send and receive over its part of a duplex line. This mode is used for X.25 packet-switching networks.

The Link Access Procedure-Balanced (LAP-B) and Link Access Procedure D-channel (LAP-D) protocols are subsets of HDLC.