The Adaptive tree Walk Protocol (ATWP) is a protocol that is used to resolve contention for a shared channel in a network. In a situation where multiple stations are contending for the use of a shared channel, the ATWP uses a binary tree structure to determine which station gets access to the channel first.
In your scenario, stations 7 and 8 are contending for the use of a shared channel at the same time. In order to resolve this contention, the ATWP would use a binary tree structure to determine which of these stations gets access to the channel first. The number of bit slots needed to resolve this contention would depend on the number of stations contending for the channel, as well as the specific implementation of the ATWP.
As a general rule, the number of bit slots needed to resolve contention using the ATWP increases as the number of contending stations increases. In the case of stations 7 and 8 contending for the use of a shared channel, it is likely that at least a few bit slots would be needed to resolve the contention. However, without more information about the specific implementation of the ATWP and the number of stations contending for the channel, it is not possible to provide a more precise answer.
