Chapter 6

Multiplexing
Objectives
 Discuss the differences between frequency
division multiplexing (FDM) and time division
multiplexing (TDM).
 Discuss the various steps required to prepare
a signal for TDM.
 Understand amplitude modulation (AM).
 Understand pulse code modulation (PCM).

2
Objectives (continued)
 Describe how a DS0 signal is formed.
 Describe how a DS1 signal is formed.
 Know the medium required for various levels
of multiplexed signals.
 Explain why all TDM systems have 8000
frames per second.

3
Objectives (continued)
 Explain the purpose of quantizing.
 Explain wave division multiplexing (WDM).
 Describe the various levels of SONET and
know how many DS0 signals each contains.

4
Multiplexing
 In telecommunications, multiplexing means to
combine many signals (voice or data) so they
can be sent over one transmission medium.
 Space Division Multiplexing
 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

5
Bandwidth
 Bandwidth (Bw) refers to the width of a
signal, which is determined by taking the
difference between the highest frequency of
the signal and its lowest frequency.
 A voice signal is usually though of as a signal
between 0 and 4000 Hz (Bw = 4000 Hz).
 In the United States, AT&T designed its FDM
systems to handle the band of signals
between 200 and 3400 Hz (Bw = 3200 Hz).
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Twelve-Channel Frequency
Division Multiplexing

7
6.1 The Channel Unit of a FDM
System
 Each signal fed to a FDM system interfaces to
the multiplexer through a device called a
channel unit.
 The channel unit makes changes to the input
signal so it can be multiplexed with other signals
for transmission.
 Voice signals arrive between 0 and 4000 Hz.
 A sharp cutoff bandpass filter passes only 200 – 3400 Hz.
 A modulator takes the 200 – 3400 Hz signal and shifts it to
another frequency.
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6.2 Transmit and Receive
Paths: The Four-Wire System
 The first multiplexers used four wires for the
transmission medium.
 One pair of wires was used for the signal going in one
direction.
 A separate pair of wires was used for the signal going
in the opposite direction.
 Two fiber optic strands are required to connect
multiplexers.
 Two microwave frequencies are required to
connect multiplexers.
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6.3 Why Use Multiplexing?
 Multiplexing was first used to reduce the
number of transmission media needed
between cities and towns.
 This resulted in significantly reduced costs for
trunk circuits.
 Fiber optic cable allows the multiplexer to
combine as many as 6 million signals in one
direction on one fiber strand.

10
6.4 Amplitude Modulation
 In amplitude modulation (AM) the amplitude
of the carrier frequency coming out of the
mixer will vary according to the changing
amplitude of the input voice signal.
 Amplitude modulation is used by AM
broadcast stations.
 Carrier frequencies are between 540 kHz and
1,650 kHz.
 Carrier frequencies are licensed by the FCC.
11
Amplitude Modulation

12
6.5 Frequency Division
Multiplexing
 Using FDM, many telephone calls can be multiplexed
over two pairs of wires.
 If we wish to multiplex 12 calls over two pairs of wires
between cities A and B:
 We hook up a multiplexer containing 12 transmitters to the first
wire pair in city A; at the other end we attach 12 receivers in city
B.
 We hook up a multiplexer containing 12 transmitters to the
second wire pair in city B; at the other end we attach 12
receivers in city A.
 The two simplex circuits make up a full-duplex circuit
between A and B.
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6.6 Hybrid Network
 The circuit from a telephone arrives at the
input to the channel unit of a multiplexer as a
two-wire circuit.
 The channel unit contains a hybrid network
that interfaces the two-wire input to a four-
wire transmit/receive path.
 The transmit path connects to the transmitter for
this channel.
 The receive path connects to the receiver for this
channel.
14
Channel Unit

15
6.7 Amplitude Modulation
Technology
 Amplitude modulation is a technique in which
the amplitude of the high-frequency signal
changes when the high-frequency signal is
mixed with a low-frequency signal in a device
called a mixer or modulator.
 The high-frequency signal is termed the carrier
frequency.
 The low-frequency signal is called the modulating
signal.

16
Amplitude Modulation
Example
 If a 64,000 Hz signal is modulated by a 4,000 Hz
signal, the outputs of the modulator will be:
 64,000 Hz
 4,000 Hz
 68,000 Hz (64,000 + 4,000)
 60,000 Hz (64,000 – 4,000)
 The two additional signals generated by the mixing
process are called sidebands.
 The higher signal is called the upper sideband.
 The lower signal is called the lower sideband.

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6.8 Bandwidth and Single-
Sideband Suppressed Carrier
 The bandwidth of an AM signal is twice the
bandwidth of the modulating signal.
 When a low-frequency signal is present as an
input to the mixer, the amplitude of both sideband
signals changes as the input signal changes.
 Since both sidebands have been modulated, they
both contain the frequency changes of the
modulating signal.

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Single-Sideband (SSB)
systems
 We only need to demodulate one of the sidebands
to recapture the intelligence of the modulating
signal.
 Since only one sideband is needed to demodulate
the modulating signal, some systems will transmit
only one sideband with the carrier frequency.
 Systems that do not transmit the main carrier
frequency, but transmit the sideband only, are called
Single-Sideband Suppressed Carrier (SSB-SC)
systems.
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6.9 CCITT Standards for
Frequency Division Multiplexing
 Telecommunications standards are set by
several organizations.
 Predominant organizations:
 American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
 Establishes standards for North America
 Consultative Committee on International
Telegraphy and Telecommunications (CCITT)
 Organization within the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)
 Creates worldwide standards
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6.10 Applications for Frequency
Division Multiplexing
 We now use FDM on fiber optic facilities to
place multiple TDM systems on a fiber.
 Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) places
each signal to be multiplexed on the medium
for a brief instant of time at recurring intervals
of time.
 Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) uses
many different lightwaves to connect many
TDM systems on one fiber.
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6.11 Wave Division
Multiplexing
 The first commercial use of WDM was to use
different frequencies of light for transmitters
on each end of one fiber.
 The velocity of propagation is equal to the
product of the wavelength and the frequency
 vp = λ * f
 In a vacuum, the speed of light, C, is 3x108 m/s

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6.12 Dense Wave Division
Multiplexing (DWDM)
 The development of the erbium-doped fiber
amplifier (EDFA) made DWDM possible.
 C band EDFAs operate from 1530 nm to 1560
nm.
 The bandwidth of a C Band system is 4 trillion
Hz.
 DWDM is available with transmitters that use 4,
8, 16, 32, and 180 lasers.
 Frequencies used chosen from the ITU Grid.
23
ITU Grid

24
6.13 TDM Using Pulse Amplitude
Modulation (PAM) Signals
 Early TDM signals multiplexed samples of the
human voice from different channels over
one common facility.
 Nyquist made some studies of voice
sampling techniques and developed the
Nyquist Theorem.
 The original signal can be reproduced if the
sampling rate is at least twice the highest
frequency present in the original signal.
25
Pulse Amplitude Modulation
Samples

26
Creation of a Time Division
Multiplexing Signal

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6.14 Time Division Multiplexing
Using PCM Signals
 TDM systems using PAM are susceptible to noise
interference.
 The industry standard for converting an analog
signal into a digital signal is called Pulse Code
Modulation (PCM).
 PCM/TDM has many advantages over FDM and
PAM/TDM
 Digital signals are less susceptible to noise.
 Digital circuitry lends itself readily to integrated circuit
design, which makes digital circuits cheaper than analog
circuits.
 Digital-to-digital interface is easily achieved.

28
6.15 Pulse Code Modulation
 The industry standard method for converting
one analog voice signal into a digital signal is
PCM.
 There are five basic steps to PCM:
 Sampling
 Quantization
 Companding
 Encoding
 Framing
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6.15.1 Sampling
 Sampling refers to how often measurements are
taken of the input analog signal.
 The Nyquist Theorem states that an analog signal
should be sampled at a rate at least twice its highest
frequency.
 In telecommunications, the network was designed to
handle signals between 0 and 4000 Hz.
 Every 1/8000 of a second (125 μs) a voltage
measurement is taken of the input signal.

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6.15.2 Quantization
 In PCM, each voltage measurement is
converted to an 8-bit code, and the 8-bit
coded is sent instead of the actual voltage.
 The input signal can be any level.
 The 8-bit coded limits the conversion process to
the recognition of 256 (28 = 256) levels.
 Quantization is the process to convert the
input level to one of the 256 discrete codes
available.
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6.15.3 Companding
 Quantizing a signal will result in some distortion
because we do not code the exact voltage of the
input signal.
 This distortion is called quantizing noise, it is
greater for low-amplitude signals.
 Companding is used to reduce quantizing noise.
 The signal is compressed at the transmitter to divide
low-amplitude signals into more levels.
 When the signal is decoded at the receiving system, it
is expanded by reversing the compression process.
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6.15.4 Encoding
 After compression and quantization of the
input signal, it will be one of the 256 discrete
signal levels that can be assigned an 8-bit
code.
 The process of assigning an 8-bit code to
represent the signal level is known as
encoding.

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6.15.5 Framing
 The encoded 8-bit signal is time division multiplexed
with 23 other 8-bit signals to generate 192 bits for 24
signals.
 A single framing bit is added to these 192 bits to
make a 193-bit frame.
 Framing Bits
 Follow an established pattern of 1s and 0s for 12 frames
(1,0,0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,0) and then repeat in each of the
succeeding 12 frames.
 This pattern is used by the receiving terminal to stay
synchronized with the received frames.
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6.16 North American DS1
System
 The basic building block for digital
transmission standards begins with the DS0
signal level.
 One voice equivalent
 8 bits/sample x 8,000 samples/second
 The DS1 signal has 24 voice equivalents
 193 bits per frame
 24 x 8 bits per channel
 1 framing bit
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One Frame of a DS1 Signal

36
6.17 T1 Carrier Systems
 The multiplexing system of choice to connect
two central offices in a North American DS1
system is called T1 carrier.
 It is necessary to remove load coils from
pairs being used for T1 to improve high-
frequency response.
 Repeaters (pulse regenerators) are placed
where the load coils were and at each central
office.
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Superframe

38
Extended Superframe

39
Alternate Mark Inversion

40
Bipolar Violation

41
6.18 European TDM 30 + 2
System
 The European TDM system multiplexes 32
DS0 channels together.
 Channel 0 is used for synchronizing (framing) and
signaling.
 Channels 1-15 and 17-31 are used for voice.
 Channel 16 is reserved for future use as a
signaling channel.
 The total signal rate is 2.048 Mbps (64 kbps *
32 channels)
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6.19 Statistical Time Division
Multiplexing (STDM)
 The T1 and E1 systems are referred to as
synchronous time division multiplexing
systems.
 The statistical time division multiplexer
improves the efficiency of a TDM system.
 Channel units do not have reserved time slots.
 Time slots are dynamically assigned.
 Also called stat muxs, intelligent multiplexers,
and asynchronous multiplexers.
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6.20 Higher Levels of TDM
 The 24-channel DS1 signal developed in the early
1960s is the basic multiplex building block in North
America.
 Two DS1 signals can be combined into a 48-
channel DS1C signal.
 Four DS1 signals can be combined into a 96-
channel DS2 signal.
 Seven DS2 signals can be combined into a 672-
channel DS3 signal.
 Six DS3 signals can be combined into a 4032-
channel DS4 signal.
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Implementation of DS Signals
 DS is the signal, T is the physical
implementation.
 T1 can use wire to send a DS1 signal.
 T1C can use wire to send a DS1C signal.
 T2 can use wire to send a DS2 signal.
 T3 must use coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or
digital microwave radio to send a DS3 signal.
 T4 must use coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or
digital microwave radio to send a DS4 signal.
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6.21 SONET Standards
 Fiber optics use synchronous optical network
(SONET) standards.
 The initial SONET standard is OC-1, this
level is known as synchronous transport level
1 (STS-1).
 It has a synchronous frame structure at a speed
of 51.840 Mbps.
 OC-1 is an envelope containing a DS3 signal (28
DS1 signals or 672 channels).
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Table 6-2 TDM Comparisons

47
Wave Division Multiplexing
(Courtesy of Sprint)

48
6.22 Summary
 Multiplexing of signals onto one medium can
be accomplished using FDM and TDM.
 When fiber optics was first introduced, one
light signal was used on the fiber.
 Today instead of connecting the TDM system
directly to the fiber, the TDM system is
connected to a channel unit of a DWDM and
the DWDM is connected to the fiber.

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