Transmission Modes
● Communication between two devices can
be simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex.
Transmission Modes
Sender Receive Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver
r
T R
A T R B A B
x
R xT
x x
x x
a. Simplex mode b. Half duplex mode
Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver
T R
A B
x x
R T
x x
c. full duplex mode
Simplex Mode
● In simplex mode, the transmission is unidirectional,
as on a one-way street. Only one of the two devices
on a link can transmit; the other can only receive.
The receiver can not send message back to the
sender
Sender Receive
r
A T R B
x x
Simplex mode
Examples:
TV transmissions, Radio transmission (AM, FM),
mouse to PC communications, PC to Monitor
(display device) transmission, Remote Control
Remote to TV, Remote to AC etc.
Half-Duplex
● In half-duplex mode, each station can both
transmit and receive, but not at the same time.
When one device is sending, the other can only
receive, and vice versa.
Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver
T R
A B
x
R xT
x x
Half-Duplex
• The half-duplex mode is used in cases where there
is no need for communication in both directions at
the same time; the entire capacity of the channel
can be utilized for each direction.
● Walkie-talkies and CB (citizens band) radios are
both half-duplex systems.
● CSMA based LAN,
Full-Duplex
● In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations
can transmit and receive simultaneously
● The full-duplex mode is like a two-way street with traffic
flowing in both directions at the same time.
. Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver
T R
A B
x x
R T
x x
Full Duplex
In full-duplex mode, signals going in one direction
share the capacity of the link with signals going in the
other direction. This sharing can occur in two ways:
✔Either the link must contain two physically separate
transmission paths, one for sending and the other for
receiving;
✔or the capacity of the channel is divided between
signals traveling in both directions
Example
● Examples: Telephone Network, Cellular Networks(
GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G),Switch based LAN, DSL etc.
Comparison
Basis for comparison Simplex mode Half-duplex mode Full-duplex mode
Direction of In simplex mode, the In half-duplex mode, In full-duplex mode, the
communication communication is the communication is communication is
unidirectional. bidirectional, but one at bidirectional.
a time.
Send/Receive A device can only send Both the devices can Both the devices can
the data but cannot send and receive the send and receive the
receive it or it can only data, but one at a time. data simultaneously.
receive the data but
cannot send it.
Performance The performance of The performance of The Full-duplex mode
half-duplex mode is full-duplex mode is has better performance
better than the simplex better than the among simplex and
mode. half-duplex mode. half-duplex mode as it
doubles the utilization
of the capacity of the
communication channel.
Example Examples of Simplex Example of half-duplex Example of the
mode are radio, is Walkie-Talkies. Full-duplex mode is a
keyboard, and monitor. telephone network.
