Definition of Full-duplex in the Network Encyclopedia.

What is Full-Duplex?

Full-Duplex is a mode of communication in which data is simultaneously transmitted and received between stations. Full-duplex communication is twice as fast as half-duplex communication, and typically uses two separate pairs of wires (or two channels for wireless networking) for supporting simultaneous transmission and reception by a host.

An alternative arrangement is to use some multiplexing technique, such as time-division multiplexing (TDM), to interleave transmission and reception on a single channel. This does not produce true full-duplex communication, but to an ordinary user it might appear to do so if the interleaving process is fast enough.

Examples of full-duplex communication include cellular telephone technologies and full-duplex Ethernet. Examples of half-duplex communication are walkie-talkies, CB radios, and standard Ethernet networks. Examples of simplex communication technology include satellite broadcasting and cable TV broadcasting.