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Difference Between Simplex, Half Duplex and Full Duplex Transmission Modes

There are three transmission modes: simplex, half duplex, and full duplex. In simplex mode, communication is unidirectional. In half duplex mode, communication is two-directional but only one device can transmit at a time. In full duplex mode, communication is two-directional and both devices can transmit simultaneously, providing better bandwidth utilization than the other two modes.

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523 views

Difference Between Simplex, Half Duplex and Full Duplex Transmission Modes

There are three transmission modes: simplex, half duplex, and full duplex. In simplex mode, communication is unidirectional. In half duplex mode, communication is two-directional but only one device can transmit at a time. In full duplex mode, communication is two-directional and both devices can transmit simultaneously, providing better bandwidth utilization than the other two modes.

Uploaded by

Nafisa Islam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Difference Between Simplex, Half duplex

and Full Duplex Transmission Modes

There are three modes of transmission simplex, half duplex, and full duplex. Transmission
mode describes the direction, of flow of signal between two connected devices. The main
difference between simplex, half duplex, and full duplex is that in a simplex mode of
transmission the communication is unidirectional whereas, in the half-duplex mode of
transmission the communication is two directional but the channel is alternately used by the
both the connected device.

On the other hand, in the full duplex mode of transmission, the communication is bi-
directional, and the channel is used by both the connected device simultaneously. Let us
study the difference between simplex, half duplex, and full duplex with the help of
comparison chart shown below.

Content: Simplex, Half Duplex, and Full Duplex


1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion
Comparison chart

BASIS FOR
SIMPLEX HALF DUPLEX FULL DUPLEX
COMPARISON

Direction of Communication is Communication is Communication is

Communication unidirectional. two-directional but, two directional and

one at a time. done simultaneously.

Send/Receive A sender can send A sender can send A sender can send as

data but, can not as well as receive well as receive the

receive. the data but one at data simultaneously.

a time.

Performance The half duplex and The full duplex Full duplex has better

full duplex yields mode yields higher performance as it

better performance performance than doubles the

than the Simplex. half duplex. utilization of

bandwidth.

Example Keyboard and Walkie-Talkies. Telephone.

monitor.
Definition of Simplex
In a simplex transmission mode, the communication between sender and receiver occur
only in one direction. That means only the sender can transmit the data, and receiver can
only receive the data. The receiver can not reply in reverse to the sender. Simplex is like a
one-way road in which the traffic travels only in one direction, no vehicle from opposite
direction is allowed to enter. The entire channel capacity is only utilized by the sender.

You can better understand the simplex transmission mode with an example of keyboard and
monitor. The Keyboard can only transmit the input to the monitor, and the monitor can only
receive the input and display it on the screen. The monitor can not transmit any information
back to the keyboard.

Definition of Half Duplex


In a half-duplex transmission mode, the communication between sender and receiver
occurs in both the directions but, one at a time. The sender and receiver both can transmit
and receive the information but, only one is allowed to transmit at a time.

Half duplex is still a one way road, in which a vehicle traveling in opposite direction of the
traffic has to wait till the road is empty. The entire channel capacity is utilized by the
transmitter, transmitting at that particular time.
Half duplex can be understood with an example of walkie-talkies. As the speaker at both the
end of walkie-talkies can speak but they have to speak one by one. Both can not speak
simultaneously.

Definition of Full Duplex


In a full duplex transmission mode, the communication between sender and receiver can
occur simultaneously. Sender and receiver both can transmit and receive simultaneously at
the same time. The full duplex transmission mode is like a two way road in which traffic can
flow in both the direction at the same time. The entire capacity of the channel is shared by
both the transmitted signal traveling in opposite direction.

Sharing of the channel capacity can be achieved in two different ways. First, either you
physically separate the link in two parts one for sending and other for receiving. Second, or
you let the capacity of a channel to be shared by the two signals traveling in opposite
direction.

Full duplex can be understood best, with an example of a telephone. When two people
communicate over a telephone both are free to speak and listen at the same time.
Key Differences Between Simplex, Half Duplex and Full
Duplex
1. In a Simplex mode of transmission, the signal can be sent only in one direction; hence,
it is unidirectional. On the other hand, in half duplex, both the sender and receiver can
transmit the signal but, only one at a time, whereas, in full duplex, the sender and
receiver can transmit the signal simultaneously at the same time.
2. In a simplex mode of transmission, only one of the two devices on the link can
transmit the signal, and the other can only receive but can not send back the signal in
reverse. In a half duplex mode, both the devices connected on the link can transmit
the signal but only one device can transmit at a time. In a full-duplex mode, both the
device on the link can transmit simultaneously.
3. The performance of full duplex is better than half duplex and simplex because it better
utilizes the bandwidth, as compared to half duplex and simplex.
4. If we take the example of keyboard and monitor, it is observed that keyboard inputs
the command and monitor displays it, monitor never reply back to the keyboard;
hence, it is an example of the simplex transmission mode. In a walkie-talkie, only one
person can communicate at a time so; it represents an example of half duplex mode of
transmission. In a telephone, both the person on the either side of a telephone can
communicate parallelly at the same time; hence, it represents an example of a full-
duplex mode of transmission.

Conclusion
The full duplex transmission modes offer the better performance and also increases the
throughput of the bandwidth.

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