Multiplexing

Whenever the bandwidth of a medium linking two devices is greater than the bandwidth
needs of the devices, the link can be shared. Multiplexing is the set of techniques that
allows the simultaneous transmission of multiple signals across a single data link.
As data and telecommunications usage increases, so does traffic. We can
accommodate this increase by continuing to add individual lines each time a new channel
is needed, or we can install higher-bandwidth links and use each to carry multiple signals.
Today’s technology includes high bandwidth media such as optical fiber and terrestrial
and satellite microwaves. Each of these has a bandwidth far in excess of that needed for
the average transmission signal. If the bandwidth of a link is greater than the bandwidth
needs of the devices connected to it, the bandwidth is wasted. Bandwidth is one of the
most precious resources we have in data communication, so an efficient system
maximizes the utilization of all resources.
The basic format of a multiplexed system is shown in the diagram in which n
lines share the bandwidth of one link.

Dividing a link into channels

The four lines on the left direct their transmission streams to a multiplexer
(MUX), which combines them into a single stream (many to one). At the receiving end,
that stream is fed into a demultiplexer (DEMUX), which separates the stream back into
its component transmissions (one to many) and directs them to their corresponding lines.
The word link in the diagram refers to the physical path. The word channel refers
to the portion of a link that carries a transmission between a given pair of lines. One link
can have many (n) channels.
Signals are multiplexed by one of the three techniques, i.e. Frequency-Division
Multiplexing (FDM), Wave-Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Time-Division
Multiplexing (TDM).
FDM and TDM use analog signals while TDM uses digital signals.

Categories of Multiplexing

Chapter 6: Multiplexing Page 1 of 13

Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM) is an analog technique that can be applied
when the bandwidth of a link (in hertz) is greater than the combined bandwidth of the
signals to be transmitted. In FDM, signals generated by each sending device modulate
different carrier frequencies. These modulated signals are then combined into a single
composite signal that can be transported by the link. Carrier frequencies are separated by
sufficient bandwidth to accommodate the modulated signal. These bandwidth ranges are
the channels through which the various signals travel. Channels must be separated by
strips of unused bandwidth guard bands (also called a frequency guard band, a narrow
frequency band between adjacent channels in multiplexing that is kept unused to prevent
the channels from overlapping and causing cross talk among modulated signals. Guard
bands are commonly used in FDM but are also used in any data transmission method that
relies on frequencies) to prevent signals from overlapping. In addition, carrier frequencies
must not interfere with the original data frequencies. Failure to hold either condition can
result in the unsuccessful recovery of the original signal.

Frequency-Division Multiplexing

So, FDM is an analog multiplexing technique that combines signals.

Multiplexing Process
A conceptual example of the multiplexing process is shown in the diagram. FDM is an
analog process, and telephones are used in the example as the Input devices.

FDM Multiplexing Process

Each telephone generates a signal of a similar frequency range. Inside the multiplexer,
these similar signals are modulated onto different carrier frequencies (f1, f2 and f3). The
resulting, modulated signals are then combined into a single composite signal that is sent
over a media link that has enough bandwidth to accommodate it.

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 Demultiplexing Process
The demultiplexer uses a series of filters to decompose the multiplexed signal into its
constituent component signals. The individual signals are then passed to a demodulator
that separates them from their carriers and passes them to the waiting receivers.

FDM Demultiplexing process

A conceptual illustration of FDM, using three telephones as the communication devices

is shown in the diagram.

Example

Assume that a voice channel occupies a bandwidth of 4 KHz. We need to combine three
voice channels into a link with a bandwidth of 12 KHz, from 20 to 32 KHz. Show the
configuration using the frequency domain without the use of guard bands.

Solution

Shift (modulate) each of the three voice channels to a different bandwidth, i.e.

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We use the 20-24 KHz bandwidth for the first channel, the 24-28 KHz bandwidth for the
second channel, and the 28-32 KHz bandwidth for the third one. Then we combine them
as shown in the diagram. At the receiving side, each channel receives the entire signal,
using a filter to separate out its own signal. The first channel uses a filter that passes
frequencies between 20-24 KHz and filters out (discards) any other frequencies. The
second channel uses a filter that passes frequencies between 24-28 KHz, and the third
channel uses a filter that passes frequencies between 28-32 KHz.

Example

Five channels, each with a 100-KHz bandwidth, are to be multiplexed together. What is
the minimum bandwidth of the link if there is a need for a guard band of 10 KHz between
the channels to prevent interference?

Solution

For five channels, we need at least four guard bands. This means that the required
bandwidth is at least
5 x 100 + 4 x 10 = 540 KHz,

Applications of FDM
A very common application of FDM is AM and FM radio. Radio uses air as the
transmission medium. A special band, from 530 to 1700 KHz is assigned to AM Radio.
An AM radio station needs 10 KHz of bandwidth. Each station uses a different carrier
frequency. The signal which goes to the air and the receiver receives all the signals, but
filters (by tuning) only the one which is desired. Without multiplexing, only one AM
station could broadcast to the common link, the air.
With FM radio broadcasting, we have a wider band i.e. from 88 to 1-8 MHz.
Televisions broadcasting also uses FDM technique.
The first generation of cellular phones also uses FDM. Each user is assigned two
30 KHz channels, one for sending voice and one for receiving.

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Wave-Division Multiplexing (WDM) is designed to use the high data rate capability of
fiber-optic cable. The optical fiber data rate is higher than the data rate of metallic
transmission cable. Using a fiber-optic cable for one single line wastes the available
bandwidth. Multiplexing allows us to connect several lines into one.
WDM is conceptually the same as FDM, except that the multiplexing and
demultiplexing involve optical signals transmitted through fiber-optic channels. The idea
is the same i.e. we are combining different signals of different frequencies. However, the
difference is that the frequencies are very high.

Wave-Division Multiplexing

A conceptual view of a WDM multiplexer and demultiplexer is shown in the

diagram. Very narrow band of light from different sources are combined to make a wider
band of light. At the receiver, the signals are separated by the multiplexer. So, in WDM,
we combine multiple light sources into one single light at the multiplexer and do the
reverse at the demultiplexer. Combining and splitting of light sources are easily handled
by prism. A prism bends a beam of light based on the angle of incidence and the
frequency. Using this technique, a multiplexer can be made to combine several input
beams of light, each containing a narrow band of frequencies, into one output beam of a
wider band of frequencies. A demultiplexer can also be made to reverse the process.

Prism in WDM multiplexing and demultiplexing

So, WDM is an analog multiplexing technique to combine optical signals.

Applications of WDM
One application of WDM is the SONET i.e. (Synchronous Optical NETwork) in which
multiple optical fibers are multiplexed and demultiplexed.
A new method, called the Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM), can
multiplex a very large number of channels by spacing channels closer to one another. It
achieves even greater efficiency.

Chapter 6: Multiplexing Page 5 of 13

Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) is a digital process that allows several connections
to share the high bandwidth of a link. Instead of sharing a portion of the bandwidth as in
FDM, time is shared. Each connection occupies a portion of time in link.
The diagram below gives a conceptual view of TDM. It can be noted that the
same link is used here, as in FDM, however, the link is shown sectioned by time rather
than by frequency. The portions of signals i.e. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are occupying the link
sequentially.

Time Division Multiplexing

So, TDM is a digital multiplexing technique to combine data.

Time Slots and Frames

The data flow of each connection is divided into units, and the link combines one unit of
each connection to make a frame. The size of the unit can be 1 bit or several bits. For n
input connections, a frame is organized into a minimum of n time slots, each slot carrying
one unit from each connection. The value of n contained in the diagram is 3.

TDM Frames

In TDM, the data rate of the link that carries data from n connections must be n
times the data rate of a connection to guarantee the flow of data. Therefore, the duration
of a unit in a connection in n times the duration of a time slot in a frame. If we consider
that the bit duration and bit rate are the inverse of each other, the above requirement
makes sense. In above drawn figure, the data rate of the link is 3 times the data rate of a
connection; likewise, the duration of a unit on a connection is 3 times that of the time slot

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(duration of a unit on the link). In the figure the data is represented prior to multiplexing
as 3 times the size of the data after multiplexing.
Time slots are grouped into frames. A frame consists of one complete cycle of
time slots, with one slot dedicated to each sending device. In a system with n input lines,
each frame has n slots, with each slot allocated to carrying data from a specific input line.

Example

Four 1-Kbps connections are multiplexed together. A unit is 1 bit. Find

1. The duration of 1 bit before multiplexing?

2. The transmission rate of the link?
3. The duration of a time slot? &
4. The duration of a frame?

Solution

1. The duration of 1 bit before multiplexing is 1/1 Kbps, or 0.001 s (1 ms).

2. The rate of the link is 4 times the rate of a connection, or 4 Kbps.
3. The duration of each time slot is one-fourth of the duration of each bit before
multiplexing, or 1/4 ms or 250 µs. We can also calculate it from the data rate of
the link, 4 Kbps. The bit duration is the inverse of the data rate, or 1/4 Kbps or
250 µs.
4. The duration of a frame is always the same as the duration of each unit before
multiplexing, or 1 ms. We can also calculate this in another way. Each frame in
this case includes four time slots. So the duration of a frame is 4 times of 250 µs,
or 1 ms.

Interleaving
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, but in opposite directions. On the multiplexing side, as the switch opens in front of
a connection, that connection has the opportunity to send a unit onto the path. This
process is called Interleaving.

Interleaving

On the demultiplexing side, as the switch opens in front of a connection, that connection
has the opportunity to receive a unit from the path.

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The process of interleaving is shown in the diagram, in which we can assume that no
switching is involved and that the data from the first connection at the multiplexer site go
to the first connection at the demultiplexer.

Example

Four channels are multiplexed using TDM. If each channel sends 100 bytes/s and we
multiplex 1 byte per channel. Show

1. The frame traveling on the link?

2. The size of the frame?
3. The frame rate,
4. The duration of a frame? and
5. The bit rate for the link?

Solution

1. The frame travelling on the link is shown in the diagram below

2. Each frame carries 1 byte from each channel. So the size of each frame is 4 bytes
or 32 bits.
3. Because each channel is sending 100 bytes per second and a frame carries 1 byte
from each channel, the frame rate must be 100 frames per second, and
4. The duration of a frame is therefore 1/100 s.
5. The link is carrying 100 frames per second, and each frame contains 32 bits, so
the bit rate is 100 x 32 or 3200 bps. This is actually 4 times the bit rate for each
channel, which is 100 x 8 = 800 bps.

Synchronizing
Implementation of TDM is not as easy as that of FDM. Synchronization between the
multiplexer and demultiplexer is a major issue.
If the multiplexer and the demultiplexer are out of synchronization, the wrong
channel may receive a bit belonging to one channel. For this reason, one or more
synchronization bits are usually added to the beginning of each frame.
These bits, called framing bits, follow a pattern, frame to frame, that allows the
demultiplexer to synchronize with the incoming stream so that it can separate the time
slots accurately.

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 In most of the cases, this synchronization information consists of 1 bit per frame,
alternating between 0 and 1.
Synchronization pattern used in TDM is shown in the diagram.

Bit Padding
It is possible to multiplex data from devices of different data rates. For example, device A
could use one time slot, while the faster device B could use two. The number of slots in a
frame and the input lines to which they are assigned remain fixed throughout a given
system, but devices of different data rates may control different numbers of those slots.
We know that the time slot length is fixed, so for this technique to work, different data
rates must be integer multiples of each other, i.e. we can accommodate a device that is 5
times faster than the other devices by giving it five slots to one for each of the other
devices, but we cannot accommodate a device that is 5.5 times faster by this method,
because we cannot introduce one-half of a time slot into a frame.
*
When speeds are not integer multiples of each other, they can be made to behave
as if they were, by a technique called bit padding. In bit padding, the multiplexer adds
extra bits to a device’s source stream to force the speed relationships among the various
devices into integer multiples of each other. For example, if we have one device with a
bit rate of 2.75 times that of the other device, we can add enough bits to raise the ratio to
3 times that of the others. The demultiplexer then discards the extra bits.

Example

Two channels, one with a bit rate of 100 Kbps and another with a bit rate of 200 Kbps,
are to be multiplexed. How this can be achieved?

1. What is the frame rate?

2. What is the frame duration? And
3. What is the bit rate of the link?

*
Integer Multiple
An integer multiple is a whole number that may be divided by another a certain number of times without a
remainder, i.e. 28/28 = 1, i.e. no remainder, so 28 is an integer multiple of 28. Similarly, 40/20 = 2. But
28/27 = 1.037, there is a remainder, so 28 is a non integer multiple of 27.

Chapter 6: Multiplexing Page 9 of 13

Solution

We can allocate one slot to the first channel and two slots to the second channel. Each
frame carries 3 bits.

1. The frame rate is 100,000 frames per second because it carries 1 bit from the first
channel.
2. The frame duration is 1/100,000 s, or 10 ms.
3. The bit rate is 100,000 frames/s x 3 bits/frame, or 300 Kbps.

Digital Signal (DS) Service

Telephone companies implement TDM through a hierarchy of digital signals, called
digital signal (DS) service.

DS Hierarchy

• A DS-0 service is a single digital channel of 64 Kbps.

• DS-1 is a 1.544 Mbps service. 1.544 Mbps is 24 times 64 Kbps plus 8 Kbps of
overhead. It can be used as a single service for 1.544 Mbps transmission, or it can
be used to multiplex 24 DS-0 channels or to carry any other combination desired
by the user that can fit within its 1.544 Mbps capacity.

• DS-2 is a 6.312 Mbps service. 6.312 Mbps is 96 times 64 Kbps plus 168 Kbps of
overhead. It can be used as a single service for 6.312 Mbps transmissions, or it
can be used to multiplex 4 DS-1 channels, 96 DS-0 channels, or a combination of
these service types.

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• DS-3 is a 44.376 Mbps service. 44.736 Mbps is 672 times 64 Kbps plus 1.368
Mbps overhead. It can be used as a single service for 44.376 Mbps transmissions,
or it can be used to multiplex 7 DS-2 channels, 28 DS-1 channels, 672 DS-0
channels, or a combination of these service types.

• DS-4 is a 274.176 Mbps service. 274.176 is 4032 times 64 Kbps plus 16.128
Mbps of overhead. It can be used to multiplex 6 DS-3 channels, 42 DS-2
channels, 168 DS-1 channels, 4032 DS-0 channels, or a combination of these
service types.

T Lines
DS-0, DS-1 and so on are the names of services. To implement those services, the
telephone companies use T Lines (T-1 to T-4). These are lines with capacities precisely
matched to the data rates of the DS-1 to DS-4 services.

DS and T Line rates

Service Line Rate (Mbps) Voice Channels
DS-1 T-1 1.544 24
DS-2 T-2 6.312 96
DS-3 T-3 44.736 672
DS-4 T-4 274.176 4032

The T-1 line is used to implement DS-1, T-2 is used to implement DS-2, and so on. DS-0
is not actually offered as a service, but it has been defined as a basis for reference
purposes.

T Lines for Analog Transmission

T lines are digital lines designed for the transmission of digital data, audio, or voice.
However, they also can be used for analog transmission i.e. regular telephone
connections.

T-1 Line for multiplexing telephone lines

The possibility of using T lines as analog carriers opened up a new generation of

services for the telephone companies. Earlier, when an organization wanted 24 separate

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telephone lines, it needed to run 24 twister-pair cables from the company to the central
exchange, but now the same organization can combine the 24 lines into one T-1 line and
run only the T-1 line to the exchange. Figure shows how 24 voice channels can be
multiplexed onto one T-1 line.

The T-1 Frame

We know that DS-1 requires 8 Kbps of overhead. In order to understand that how do we
calculate the overhead; we need to examine the format of 24-voice-channel frame.
The frame used on a T-1 line is usually 193 bits divided into 24 slots of 8 bits
each plus 1 extra bit for synchronization (24 x 8 + 1 = 193).
T-1 frame structure

So, each slot contains one signal segment from each channel; 24 segments are interleaved
in one frame. If a T-1 line carries 8000 frames, the data rate is 1.544 Mbps (193 x 8000 =
1.544 Mbps i.e. the capacity of the line.

E Lines
Europeans use a version of T lines called E lines. The two systems are conceptually
identical, but their capacities differ.
Following table shows the E lines and their capacities.

E-1 line rates

Line Rate (Mbps) Voice Channels
E-1 2.048 30
E-2 8.448 120
E-3 34.368 480
E-4 139.264 1920

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 Inverse TDM
Inverse multiplexing is the opposite of multiplexing. Inverse multiplexing takes the data
stream from one high-speed line and breaks it into portions that can be sent across several
lower-speed lines simultaneously, with no loss in the collective data rate.

Multiplexing and inverse multiplexing

Use of inverse multiplexing is useful when an organization wants to send data, audio and
voice etc each of which requires a different data rate. To send audio, it may need 64-Kbps
link. To send data, it may need a 128-Kbps link, and to send video, it may need a 1.544-
Mbps link. Now to accommodate all these needs, the organization has two options. It can
lease a 1.544-Mbps channel from a common carrier i.e. the telephone company and use
the full capacity only sometimes, which is not efficient use of the facility. Or it can lease
several separate channels of lower data rates. Using an agreement called bandwidth on
demand, the organization can use any of these channels whenever and however it needs
them. Data or video signals can be broken up and sent over two or more lines. In other
words, the data and video signals can be inversely multiplexed over multiple lines.

Chapter 6: Multiplexing Page 13 of 13