Multiplexing

In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource – a physical transmission medium.^{[citation needed]} For example, in telecommunications, several telephone calls may be carried using one wire. Multiplexing originated in telegraphy in the 1870s, and is now widely applied in communications. In telephony, George Owen Squier is credited with the development of telephone carrier multiplexing in 1910.

The multiplexed signal is transmitted over a communication channel such as a cable. The multiplexing divides the capacity of the communication channel into several logical channels, one for each message signal or data stream to be transferred. A reverse process, known as demultiplexing, extracts the original channels on the receiver end.

A device that performs the multiplexing is called a multiplexer (MUX), and a device that performs the reverse process is called a demultiplexer (DEMUX or DMX).

Inverse multiplexing (IMUX) has the opposite aim as multiplexing, namely to break one data stream into several streams, transfer them simultaneously over several communication channels, and recreate the original data stream.

In computing, I/O multiplexing can also be used to refer to the concept of processing multiple input/output events from a single event loop, with system calls like poll^[1] and select (Unix).^[2]

^ Charles M. Hannum; The NetBSD Foundation (1998). "poll, pollts — synchronous I/O multiplexing". BSD Cross Reference. NetBSD.
^ Computer Systems Research Group (1994). "select, pselect — synchronous I/O multiplexing". BSD Cross Reference. NetBSD.

[1] Charles M. Hannum; The NetBSD Foundation (1998). "poll, pollts — synchronous I/O multiplexing". BSD Cross Reference. NetBSD.

[2] Computer Systems Research Group (1994). "select, pselect — synchronous I/O multiplexing". BSD Cross Reference. NetBSD.

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