multiplexing: Quick Facts

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Analog multiplexing, as employed in the North American telephone systemIn frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), 12 separate voice signals, each of 4-kilohertz bandwidth, are modulated onto carrier waves in the 60–108-kilohertz range. These modulated signals are combined to form a single complex group signal. Groups are further combined to form a hierarchy of increasing bandwidth and voice-carrying capacity.

Digital multiplexing, as employed in the North American telephone systemIn time-division multiplexing (TDM), 24 digitized voice signals, each at 64 kilobits per second, are assigned successive time slots in a 1.544-megabits-per-second signal. Combined signals are further combined to form data streams of increasing bit-rate and voice-carrying capacity.

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Key People

Watch a silent short of Thomas Edison, who invented the phonograph and incandescent electric light

Thomas Edison

American inventor