University of Baghdad

Information and Communication Department

Time Division Multiplexing

(TDM)

Presented
By
Dr. Zinah Abbas
Digital Communication, 3rd Year
 The Concept of Multiplexing

Multiplexing: is a set of techniques that allows the simultaneous transmission of

multiple signals across a single transmission medium.

• Each sender communicates with a single receiver.

• All pairs share a single transmission medium.
• Multiplexor (MUX) combines information from the senders for transmission
in such a way that the demultiplexor (DEMUX) can separate the information
for receivers.
Multiplexing Techniques
 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
• Each signal is allocated a different frequency band.
• Usually used with analog signals.
• Multiple carriers are used, each is called sub-carrier.
• Modulation equipment is needed to move each signal to the
required frequency band.

 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

• Usually used with digital signals.

• Instead of sharing a portion of the bandwidth as in FDM, time
is shared.
• Data from various sources are carried in repetitive frames.
• Each frame consists of a set of time slots.
• Each source is assigned one or more time slots per frame.
 Time Division Multiplexing
• Because a pulse-modulated signal occupies only a part of the channel time, we can transmit
several pulse modulated signals on the same channel by interweaving them.

• The TDM of two PAM signals is shown in the figure below.

• In this manner, we can multiplex several signals on the same channel by reducing pulse
widths.

Multiplexing of two signals

Sampling rate
The sampling rate depends on
the bandwidth of the signals.
For example, if the signals are
band-limited to
3kHz. The sampling theorem states
that each must be
sampled at a rate no less than
6kHz. This requires a 12kHz
minimum clock rate for the two-
channel system.
PAM-TDM System

TDM can be visualized as two fast rotating

switches, one on the multiplexing side and the
other on the demultiplexing side. The switches
are synchronized and rotate at the same speed,
Simple rotary-switch MUX BUT in opposite direction.
k
Example

n
TDM of digital signal (identical bit rate)

Multiplexing can be
done on a bit-by-bit basis
(bit or digit interleaving)
or on a word-by-word
basis (byte or word
interleaving)
 Bit Multiplexing

Serial o/p of PCM or the o/p of DM for n

messages had multiplexed and transmitted
over one channel.
If Rb is the information rate of each source n
coder (Nfs for PCM and fs for DM) then the
bit rate of channel will be (nRb) if all
messages have the same bit rate.

• For non-equal bit rate messages, then

sub-group multiplexing has done first
before final TDM multiplexing or using
different strategies.
Example:

Design a multiplexing scheme

using TDM for 3 speech
messages, and each sampled at
8 kHz and PCM quantized into
8 bits/sample, and a music N=8bits

message sampled at 24 kHz.

Identifying the bit rate at each
part of the multiplexing
process. N=8bits

N=8bits

N=8bits
TDM of digital signal (different bit rate)

 It is possible to multiplex data from sources of different data rates.

 If source A is two times faster than other sources, then each source could use
one slot while source A will use two slots.
 The number of slots in each frame and the input lines to which they are
assigned remain fixed throughout a given system but sources of different data
rates may control different numbers of those slots.
  When the bit rates of
incoming channels are
not identical, the high-

A bit-rate channel is
A allocated
A
proportionality more
slots.
 Figs (c and d) show 4
channels multiplexing
consisting of 3 channels
(B,C and D) of identical
bit rate R and 1 channel
(a) with a bit rate of
3R.
Data range management

If data rates are not the same, 3 strategies can be used:

1- Multi-level multiplexing

2- Multiple-slot allocation

3- Pulse stuffing
1- Multilevel Multiplexing

Multilevel multiplexing is a technique used when the

 For example, the
data rate of an input line is a multiple of others. first two 20kHz
input lines can
be multiplexed
together to
provide a data
rate equal to the
last three.

 A second level of
multiplexing can
create an output
of 160kbps.
2-Multiple-Slot Allocation

Sometimes it is more efficient to allocate more than one slot in a frame to a

single input line.

 For example, the input line with a 50-kbps data rate can be given
two slots in the output.

 We insert a serial-to-parallel converter in the line make two inputs

out of one.
 3- Pulse Stuffing

 Sometimes the bit rates of sources are not

multiple integers of each other.

 Pulse stuffing is to make the highest input data

rate the dominant data rate and then add
dummy bits to the input lines with lower rates,
this will increase their rates.

 Stuff pulses inserted at fixed locations in frame

and removed at demultiplexer.

 This technique is called Pulse Stuffing, bit

padding, or bit stuffing.
 Example: A signal X1(t) is band-limited to 4.2 KHz and three other signals X2(t), X3(t)
and X4(t) are band limited to 1.4 KHz each. Assume that these signals are transmitted by
TDM.
i) Set-up a scheme TDM for realizing this multiplexing requirement with each signal
sampled at its Nyquist rate.

Solution:
i)
fm fs=2*fm
X1(t) 4.2 KHz fs1=8.4 KHz
X2(t) 1.4 KHz fs2=2.8KHz
X3(t) 1.4 KHz fs3=2.8KHz
X4(t) 1.4 KHz fs4=2.8KHz
X1(t)
X2(t)

X3(t)
Frame
X4(t) Frame
(In one rotation)
iv) Assume that the commutator output is quantized with L=1024 and the result is binary
coded. What is the output bit rate?

L=1024 = 2𝑁

N=log 2 𝐿

=log 2 1024
=10 bits/sample

Output bitrate 𝑅𝑏 = 𝑁 ∗ 𝑛 ∗ 𝑓𝑠

=10∗ 6 ∗ 2.8 𝑘
=168 K bits/sec(kbps)
Example/ Design a TDM that will accommodate 11 sources
with this specification:
• Source 1: Analog, 2kHz bandwidth
• Source 2: Analog, 4kHz bandwidth
• Source 3: Analog, 2 kHz bandwidth
• Source 4-11: Digital, 7200 bps synchronous
Suppose the analog sources are converted to digital using 4-bit
PCM words. fs1=2*2KHz=4KHz

fs2=2*4KHz=8KHz

Analog
sources
fs1=2*2KHz=4KHz

Digital
sources
8kHz*16=128kbps
• To satisfy the Nyquist rate for the analog sources.
• Sources 1, 2, and 3 need to be sampled at 4, 8, and 4kHz, respectively.
• The first commutator is rotate at f1=4kHz and sampling source 2 twice on each
revolution.
• This produces a 16 ksamples/sec TDM PAM signal on commutator output.
• Each of the analog sample values is converted into a 4-bit PCM word, so the rate of the
TDM PCM signal on the A/D convertor output is 64 kbps.
• The digital data on the A/D convertor output may be merged with the data from the
digital sources by using a second commutator rotating at f2 =8kHz and wired so that the
64kbps PCM signal is present on 8 out of 16 terminals.
• This provide an effective sampling rate of 64 kbps.
• On the other 8 terminals the digital sources are connected to provide a data transfer rate
of 8 kbps for each sources.
• Since the digital sources are supplying a 7.2 kbps data stream, pulse stuffing is used to
raise the source rate to 8 kbps.
PCM-TDM
Digital Hierarchy of Multiplexers
• DS0 is the base for the digital signal X
series.
• DS1, used as the signal in the T-1 carrier, is
24 DS0 (64 Kbps) signals transmitted using
pulse-code modulation (PCM) and time-
division multiplexing (TDM).
• DS2 is four DS1 signals multiplexed together
to produce a rate of 6.312 Mbps.
• DS3, the signal in the T-3 carrier, carries a
multiple of 28 DS1 signals or 672 DS0s or
44.736 Mbps.
T1 Carrier System

• The T-carrier systems are totally digital and use TDM

and PCM.
• T1 is the method that is conventionally used by the
telephone communication among central offices.
• T1 signal was able to carry 24 high-quality voice
conversations.
• Each of 24 voice channels uses a binary code with an
8-bit word and it is able to support 64kbps.
With a sampling rate of 8 kHz, each frame of the multiplexed signal occupies a
period of 125 usec.

Each PCM samples (byte) must arrive within 125µsec in order to receive 8000
samples (bytes) per second.
Example: The T1 carrier system used in digital telephony multiplexers 24 voice channels
based on 8 bit PCM. Each voice signal is put through a LPF with the cut-off frequency of
3.4 KHz. The LPF output is sampled at 8kHz. Then a single bit is added at the end of the
frame for the purpose of synchronization. Calculate
i) Bit duration.
ii) Transmission rate.
iii) Nyquist bandwidth.

L=2𝑛 = 28
fc=3.4 kHz = 256 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙
LPF fm=3.4kHz
fs=2*3.4=6.8 kHz
LPF
It is better to prefer
over sampling, so..
LPF fs= 8kHz

1 2 3 4 24 Synch.
8 8 8 8 1
Bit rate= Rb= n*fs= 8*8000=64 kbps.

Frame period Tf= 1/fs=1/8000=125 µsec.

𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠
Bits in one frame= (8 (𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑠)*24 (𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒
))+1=193 bits/frame

i) Bit duration= Tf/no. of bits= 125/193=0.648usec.

• Each of the 24
ii) Transmission rate Rb=1/Tb=1/0.648= 1.544Mbps channels contains an
eight-bit PCM code
iii) Rb=2* BW and is sampled 8000
times a second.
BW=Rb/2=1.544/2=0.772 MHz
• Each channel is
sampled at the same
rate, but may not be
at the same time.