Bus network topology

In this type of network all the nodes on a network segment connect to the same physical cable. They must thus connect to get access to the network.

A bus network uses a multi-drop transmission medium, where all nodes on the network share a common bus and thus share communication. This allows one device to communicate at a time. A distributed medium access protocol determines which station is to transmit.

There are other topologies, which are either a combination of two or more of the basic topologies or are derivatives of the main types. Atypical topology is a tree topology that is essentially a combined star and a bus network.

(According to http://homepages.uel.ac.uk)