Frequency-division multiplexing

In telecommunications, frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) is a technique by which the total bandwidth available in a communication medium is divided into a series of non-overlapping frequency bands, each of which is used to carry a separate signal. This allows a single transmission medium such as a cable or optical fiber to be shared by multiple independent signals. Another use is to carry separate serial bits or segments of a higher rate signal in parallel. The most natural example of frequency-division multiplexing is radio and television broadcasting, in which multiple radio signals at different frequencies pass through the air at the same time. Another example is cable television, in which many television channels are carried simultaneously on a single cable. FDM is also used by telephone systems to transmit multiple telephone calls through high capacity trunklines, communications satellites to transmit multiple channels of data on uplink and downlink radio beams, and broadband DSL modems to transmit large amounts of computer data through twisted pair telephone lines, among many other uses. An analogous technique called wavelength division multiplexing is used in fiber-optic communication, in which multiple channels of data are transmitted over a single optical fiber using different wavelengths (frequencies) of light. The multiple separate information (modulation) signals that are sent over an FDM system, such as the video signals of the television channels that are sent over a cable TV system, are called baseband signals. At the source end, for each frequency channel, an electronic oscillator generates a carrier signal, a steady oscillating waveform at a single frequency that serves to 'carry' information. The carrier is much higher in frequency than the baseband signal. The carrier signal and the baseband signal are combined in a modulator circuit. The modulator alters some aspect of the carrier signal, such as its amplitude, frequency, or phase, with the baseband signal, 'piggybacking' the data onto the carrier. The result of modulating (mixing) the carrier with the baseband signal is to generate sub-frequencies near the carrier frequency, at the sum (fC + fB) and difference (fC − fB) of the frequencies. The information from the modulated signal is carried in sidebands on each side of the carrier frequency. Therefore, all the information carried by the channel is in a narrow band of frequencies clustered around the carrier frequency, this is called the passband of the channel. Similarly, additional baseband signals are used to modulate carriers at other frequencies, creating other channels of information. The carriers are spaced far enough apart in frequency that the band of frequencies occupied by each channel, the passbands of the separate channels, do not overlap. All the channels are sent through the transmission medium, such as a coaxial cable, optical fiber, or through the air using a radio transmitter. As long as the channel frequencies are spaced far enough apart that none of the passbands overlap, the separate channels will not interfere with each other. Thus the available bandwidth is divided into 'slots' or channels, each of which can carry a separate modulated signal. For example, the coaxial cable used by cable television systems has a bandwidth of about 1000 MHz, but the passband of each television channel is only 6 MHz wide, so there is room for many channels on the cable (in modern digital cable systems each channel in turn is subdivided into subchannels and can carry up to 10 digital television channels). At the destination end of the cable or fiber, or the radio receiver, for each channel a local oscillator produces a signal at the carrier frequency of that channel, that is mixed with the incoming modulated signal. The frequencies subtract, producing the baseband signal for that channel again. This is called demodulation. The resulting baseband signal is filtered out of the other frequencies and output to the user.