Multiplexing and Multiple Access

Multiplexing:

Multiplexing is a method by which multiple analog signal or digital data streams are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share expensive resource. For eg. in telecommunication, several telephone calls may be carried using one wire.

A device that performs the multiplexing is called multiplexer (MUX) and the device that performs the reverse process is called de-multiplexer.

Fig. Multiplexer and De-multiplexer