Duplex is a telecommunications term for communication channels that can be between two devices simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex.
Half-Duplex: In this mode of transmission, both the sender and receiver can transmit and receive the waves but only one station can do at a time, or you can say that they both cannot do this at the same time. It’s also means that when the sender is sending the signals, then the receiver can only receive the signals. The same scenario happens for the other side also. We use this communication or transmission mode when we want a one-way communication.
Ex:- walkie-talkie
We know in walkie-talkie one person can speak at a time whereas the other person only receives the voice. They both cannot communicate in both directions at the same time.
Full-Duplex: In this mode of transmission, both the sender and the receiver can communicate in both directions at the same time. We make use of full-duplex communication when we want two-way communication.
Ex:- mobile phones
As we know, while talking on phones, both the persons can speak at a time.
We can select which mode we want to choose as some modems contain a switch for the selection. Our choice depends upon the program. If we want to transmit the data in such a way so that it can be displayed on the screen character wise, then we choose the half-duplex mode. If we want that the transmitted data does not display on the screen until the data which is transmitted has been received and returned by another device, then we choose the full-duplex mode.
We’ll be covering the following topics in this tutorial:
Difference between Half-Duplex and Full-Duplex Mode
| Half-Duplex | Full-Duplex |
| In this mode, both the sender and receiver cannot transmit the data simultaneously. | In this mode, both the sender and receiver can transmit the data simultaneously. |
| It is a two-way communication but one can either send or receive the data at a time. | It is a two way communication. |
| Example: walkie-talkie | Example: telephones, mobile phones etc. |
| Half-duplex yields less performance as compare to the full-duplex. | Full-duplex yields higher performance as it doubles the utilization of the bandwidth. |
Advantages of Half-Duplex Mode
• It is easy to implement.
• There is a need for less complicated hardware.
• There is a less congested network in this mode of transmission.
• We can make use of only one antenna which can be used as both the receiver and the sender.
Disadvantage of half-duplex
• The speed of half-duplex is less as compare to the full-duplex mode of transmission.
Advantages of Full-Duplex Mode
• There is an increase in the performance of the network in this mode.
• The speed of transmitting and receiving the data is faster in this mode.
• It doubles the utilization of the bandwidth.
• Identifying the problem is easy in full-duplex transmission mode.
Disadvantages of full-duplex Mode
• All network equipment does not support full-duplex system.
• It is expensive when we want to upgrade our system to full-duplex.
• Sometimes it may cause instability. Due to this, it may become difficult for the administrators to diagnose the issue in the network.
Dinesh Thakur holds an B.C.A, MCDBA, MCSD certifications. Dinesh authors the hugely popular