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Timedivisionmultiplexing
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Timedivisionmultiplexing(TDM)isamethodoftransmittingandreceivingindependentsignalsoveracommon
signalpathbymeansofsynchronizedswitchesateachendofthetransmissionlinesothateachsignalappearson
thelineonlyafractionoftimeinanalternatingpattern.Itisusedwhenthedatarateofthetransmissionmedium
exceedsthatofsignaltobetransmitted.Thisformofsignalmultiplexingwasdevelopedintelecommunicationsfor
telegraphysystemsinthelate19thcentury,butfounditsmostcommonapplicationindigitaltelephonyinthe
secondhalfofthe20thcentury.

Contents
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History
Technology
Applicationexamples
Multiplexeddigitaltransmission
Telecommunicationssystems
Statisticaltimedivisionmultiplexing
Seealso
References

History
Timedivisionmultiplexingwasfirstdevelopedforapplicationsintelegraphytoroutemultipletransmissions
simultaneouslyoverasingletransmissionline.Inthe1870s,mileBaudotdevelopedatimemultiplexingsystem
ofmultipleHughestelegraphmachines.
In1953a24channelTDMwasplacedincommercialoperationbyRCACommunicationstosendaudio
informationbetweenRCA'sfacilityonBroadStreet,NewYork,theirtransmittingstationatRockyPointandthe
receivingstationatRiverhead,LongIsland,NewYork.Thecommunicationwasbyamicrowavesystem
throughoutLongIsland.TheexperimentalTDMsystemwasdevelopedbyRCALaboratoriesbetween1950and
1953.[1]
In1962,engineersfromBellLabsdevelopedthefirstD1channelbanks,whichcombined24digitizedvoicecalls
overafourwirecoppertrunkbetweenBellcentralofficeanalogueswitches.Achannelbanksliceda1.544Mbit/s
digitalsignalinto8,000separateframes,eachcomposedof24contiguousbytes.Eachbyterepresentedasingle
telephonecallencodedintoaconstantbitratesignalof64kbit/s.Channelbanksusedthefixedposition(temporal
alignment)ofonebyteintheframetoidentifythecallitbelongedto.[2]

Technology
Timedivisionmultiplexingisusedprimarilyfordigitalsignals,butmaybeappliedinanalogmultiplexingin
whichtwoormoresignalsorbitstreamsaretransferredappearingsimultaneouslyassubchannelsinone
communicationchannel,butarephysicallytakingturnsonthechannel.Thetimedomainisdividedintoseveral
recurrenttimeslotsoffixedlength,oneforeachsubchannel.Asamplebyteordatablockofsubchannel1is
transmittedduringtimeslot1,subchannel2duringtimeslot2,etc.OneTDMframeconsistsofonetimeslotper
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subchannelplusasynchronizationchannelandsometimeserrorcorrectionchannelbeforethesynchronization.
Afterthelastsubchannel,errorcorrection,andsynchronization,thecyclestartsalloveragainwithanewframe,
startingwiththesecondsample,byteordatablockfromsubchannel1,etc.

Applicationexamples
Theplesiochronousdigitalhierarchy(PDH)system,alsoknownasthePCMsystem,fordigitaltransmission
ofseveraltelephonecallsoverthesamefourwirecoppercable(TcarrierorEcarrier)orfibercableinthe
circuitswitcheddigitaltelephonenetwork
Thesynchronousdigitalhierarchy(SDH)/synchronousopticalnetworking(SONET)networktransmission
standardsthathavereplacedPDH.
TheBasicRateInterfaceandPrimaryRateInterfacefortheIntegratedServicesDigitalNetwork(ISDN).
TheRIFF(WAV)audiostandardinterleavesleftandrightstereosignalsonapersamplebasis
TDMcanbefurtherextendedintothetimedivisionmultipleaccess(TDMA)scheme,whereseveralstations
connectedtothesamephysicalmedium,forexamplesharingthesamefrequencychannel,cancommunicate.
Applicationexamplesinclude:
TheGSMtelephonesystem
TheTacticalDataLinksLink16andLink22

Multiplexeddigitaltransmission
Incircuitswitchednetworks,suchasthepublicswitchedtelephonenetwork(PSTN),itisdesirabletotransmit
multiplesubscribercallsoverthesametransmissionmediumtoeffectivelyutilizethebandwidthofthemedium.[3]
TDMallowstransmittingandreceivingtelephoneswitchestocreatechannels(tributaries)withinatransmission
stream.AstandardDS0voicesignalhasadatabitrateof64kbit/s.[3][4]ATDMcircuitrunsatamuchhigher
signalbandwidth,permittingthebandwidthtobedividedintotimeframes(timeslots)foreachvoicesignalwhich
ismultiplexedontothelinebythetransmitter.IftheTDMframeconsistsofnvoiceframes,thelinebandwidthis
n*64kbit/s.[3]
EachvoicetimeslotintheTDMframeiscalledachannel.InEuropeansystems,standardTDMframescontain30
digitalvoicechannels(E1),andinAmericansystems(T1),theycontain24channels.Bothstandardsalsocontain
extrabits(orbittimeslots)forsignalingandsynchronizationbits.[3]
Multiplexingmorethan24or30digitalvoicechannelsiscalledhigherordermultiplexing.Higherorder
multiplexingisaccomplishedbymultiplexingthestandardTDMframes.Forexample,aEuropean120channel
TDMframeisformedbymultiplexingfourstandard30channelTDMframes.Ateachhigherordermultiplex,four
TDMframesfromtheimmediatelowerorderarecombined,creatingmultiplexeswithabandwidthofn*64kbit/s,
wheren=120,480,1920,etc.[3]

Telecommunicationssystems
TherearethreetypesofsynchronousTDM:T1,SONET/SDH,andISDN.[5]
Plesiochronousdigitalhierarchy(PDH)wasdevelopedasastandardformultiplexinghigherorderframes.PDH
createdlargernumbersofchannelsbymultiplexingthestandardEuropeans30channelTDMframes.Thissolution
workedforawhilehoweverPDHsufferedfromseveralinherentdrawbackswhichultimatelyresultedinthe

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developmentoftheSynchronousDigitalHierarchy(SDH).Therequirementswhichdrovethedevelopmentof
SDHwerethese:[3][4]
BesynchronousAllclocksinthesystemmustalignwithareferenceclock.
BeserviceorientedSDHmustroutetrafficfromEndExchangetoEndExchangewithoutworryingabout
exchangesinbetween,wherethebandwidthcanbereservedatafixedlevelforafixedperiodoftime.
AllowframesofanysizetoberemovedorinsertedintoanSDHframeofanysize.
Easilymanageablewiththecapabilityoftransferringmanagementdataacrosslinks.
Providehighlevelsofrecoveryfromfaults.
Providehighdataratesbymultiplexinganysizeframe,limitedonlybytechnology.
Givereducedbitrateerrors.
SDHhasbecometheprimarytransmissionprotocolinmostPSTNnetworks.Itwasdevelopedtoallowstreams
1.544Mbit/sandabovetobemultiplexed,inordertocreatelargerSDHframesknownasSynchronousTransport
Modules(STM).TheSTM1frameconsistsofsmallerstreamsthataremultiplexedtocreatea155.52Mbit/s
frame.SDHcanalsomultiplexpacketbasedframese.g.Ethernet,PPPandATM.[3][4]
WhileSDHisconsideredtobeatransmissionprotocol(Layer1intheOSIReferenceModel),italsoperforms
someswitchingfunctions,asstatedinthethirdbulletpointrequirementlistedabove.[3]ThemostcommonSDH
Networkingfunctionsarethese:
SDHCrossconnectTheSDHCrossconnectistheSDHversionofaTimeSpaceTimecrosspointswitch.It
connectsanychannelonanyofitsinputstoanychannelonanyofitsoutputs.TheSDHCrossconnectis
usedinTransitExchanges,whereallinputsandoutputsareconnectedtootherexchanges.[3]
SDHAddDropMultiplexerTheSDHAddDropMultiplexer(ADM)canaddorremoveanymultiplexed
framedownto1.544Mb.Belowthislevel,standardTDMcanbeperformed.SDHADMscanalsoperform
thetaskofanSDHCrossconnectandareusedinEndExchangeswherethechannelsfromsubscribersare
connectedtothecorePSTNnetwork.[3]
SDHnetworkfunctionsareconnectedusinghighspeedopticfibre.Opticfibreuseslightpulsestotransmitdata
andisthereforeextremelyfast.Modernopticfibretransmissionmakesuseofwavelengthdivisionmultiplexing
(WDM)wheresignalstransmittedacrossthefibrearetransmittedatdifferentwavelengths,creatingadditional
channelsfortransmission.Thisincreasesthespeedandcapacityofthelink,whichinturnreducesbothunitand
totalcosts.[3][4]

Statisticaltimedivisionmultiplexing
Statisticaltimedivisionmultiplexing(STDM)isanadvancedversionofTDMinwhichboththeaddressofthe
terminalandthedataitselfaretransmittedtogetherforbetterrouting.UsingSTDMallowsbandwidthtobesplit
overoneline.ManycollegeandcorporatecampusesusethistypeofTDMtodistributebandwidth.
Ona10Mbitlineenteringanetwork,STDMcanbeusedtoprovide178terminalswithadedicated56k
connection(178*56k=9.96Mb).Amorecommonusehoweveristoonlygrantthebandwidthwhenthatmuchis
needed.STDMdoesnotreserveatimeslotforeachterminal,ratheritassignsaslotwhentheterminalisrequiring
datatobesentorreceived.
Initsprimaryform,TDMisusedforcircuitmodecommunicationwithafixednumberofchannelsandconstant
bandwidthperchannel.Bandwidthreservationdistinguishestimedivisionmultiplexingfromstatistical
multiplexingsuchasstatisticaltimedivisionmultiplexing.InpureTDM,thetimeslotsarerecurrentinafixed
orderandpreallocatedtothechannels,ratherthanscheduledonapacketbypacketbasis.
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IndynamicTDMA,aschedulingalgorithmdynamicallyreservesavariablenumberoftimeslotsineachframeto
variablebitratedatastreams,basedonthetrafficdemandofeachdatastream.[6]DynamicTDMAisusedin:
HIPERLAN/2
Dynamicsynchronoustransfermode
IEEE802.16a
Asynchronoustimedivisionmultiplexing(ATDM),[5]isanalternativenomenclatureinwhichSTDMdesignates
synchronoustimedivisionmultiplexing,theoldermethodthatusesfixedtimeslots.

Seealso
Frequencydivisionmultiplexing
McASP
Timedivisionduplex

References
ThisarticleincorporatespublicdomainmaterialfromtheGeneralServicesAdministrationdocument
"FederalStandard1037C"(http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs1037/fs1037c.htm)(insupportofMILSTD188).
1.US2919308(http://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US2919308)"TimeDivisionMultiplex
SystemforSignalsofDifferentBandwidth"
2.MaraIsabelGandaCarriedo(31August1998)."ATM:OriginsandStateoftheArt".UniversidadPolitcnicade
Madrid.Archivedfromtheoriginalon23June2006.Retrieved20090923.
3.Hanrahan,H.E.(2005).IntegratedDigitalCommunications.Johannesburg,SouthAfrica:SchoolofElectricaland
InformationEngineering,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand.
4.EricssonLtd,UnderstandingTelecommunications,
http://web.archive.org/web/20040413074912/www.ericsson.com/support/telecom/index.shtml,lastaccessedApril11,
2006.
5.White,Curt(2007).DataCommunicationsandComputerNetworks.Boston,MA:ThomsonCourseTechnology.
pp.143152.ISBN1418836109.
6.G.Miao,J.Zander,KWSung,andB.Slimane,FundamentalsofMobileDataNetworks,CambridgeUniversityPress,
ISBN1107143217,2016.

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