Types of Transmission mode - Simplex, Half duplex and Full duplex

Types of Transmission mode - Simplex, Half duplex and Full duplex
These three are the channels of signal transmission mode between two connected devices.

1. Simplex – It is more of like a one-way street, the signal travels only in one direction. The sender can say anything they want and the receiver can hear it but they cannot reply to it or send any message of their own. A Simplex channel is used mostly in Fiber Optic Communication. The full bandwidth of the optic fiber cable is used in the transmission and the full capacity of the channel can be disposed of in the process.

Some of the examples of Simplex are Radio, where a Radio Jockey can convey his thoughts to a very large audience and the audience can only listen not reply, Television, where 2D and even 3D images are transmitted through the channel. While these two are for entertainment purposes, simplex is also used between computer and printer and keyboard to the computer monitor.

2. Half Duplex – In half-duplex, both the sender and the receiver can communicate but both of them need to wait for their respective turns. Signals can travel in both directions but only one by one. The first sender sends a signal and the receiver receives it and then replies.

The full capacity of the channel is used in this process as well while data transfers from one direction to another. The easiest example to understand half duplex is to take the example of a walkie-talkie where a push-button is used to transfer the data. When pressed, the push button turns on the transmitter and the receiver is turned off. While the opposite happens when the button is released and the receiver on the other end is free to transmit the data which will be received by the previous sender.