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telecommunication: Quick Facts

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Also Known As electronic communication

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Block diagram of a digital telecommunications system.
Basic steps in analog-to-digital conversionAn analog signal is sampled at regular intervals. The amplitude at each interval is quantized, or assigned a value, and the values are mapped into a series of binary digits, or bits. The information is transmitted as a digital signal to the receiver, where it is decoded and the analog signal reconstituted.
Diagram comparing three digital signal modulation methods. It shows a binary digital signal and carrier wave, then illustrates amplitude-shift keying (ASK), frequency-shift keying (FSK), and phase-shift keying (PSK) by how each alters the analog wave to encode binary data.
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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Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell with an early telephone device positioned in front of him, symbolizing the first telephone call in history.
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