Frequency-division Multiplexing - Other Usage Example: Non Related To Telephone

Other Usage Example: Non Related To Telephone

FDM can also be used to combine signals before final modulation onto a carrier wave. In this case the carrier signals are referred to as subcarriers: an example is stereo FM transmission, where a 38 kHz subcarrier is used to separate the left-right difference signal from the central left-right sum channel, prior to the frequency modulation of the composite signal. A television channel is divided into subcarrier frequencies for video, color, and audio. DSL uses different frequencies for voice and for upstream and downstream data transmission on the same conductors, which is also an example of frequency duplex.

Where frequency-division multiplexing is used as to allow multiple users to share a physical communications channel, it is called frequency-division multiple access (FDMA).

FDMA is the traditional way of separating radio signals from different transmitters.

In the 1860s and 70s, several inventors attempted FDM under the names of Acoustic telegraphy and Harmonic telegraphy. Practical FDM was only achieved in the electronic age. Meanwhile their efforts led to an elementary understanding of electroacoustic technology, resulting in the invention of the telephone.