BECN

Pronounced beckon. In the frame relay LAPF frame, a 1-bit field used by the network to advise devices of congestion in the direction opposite of the primary traffic flow, i.e., opposite of the direction of the frame encountering the congestion. If the target frame relay access device (FRAD) responds to the originating FRAD in the backward direction, the BECN bit is set in a backward frame. If there is no data flowing in the backward direction, the frame relay network creates a frame in that direction, setting the BECN bit.The BECN bit essentially advises the originating FRAD to reduce the frame transmission rate, if it is capable of doing so, as the network may be forced to discard frames once the notification is posted. Forward explicit congestion notification (FECN) performs a congestion control function in the forward direction. See also congestion, ECN, FECN, frame, frame relay, and LAPF.