ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Carrierless amplitude phase modulation

Hey there! So you know how when we talk on a phone, our voices go through the air as sound waves? Well, when we want to send information like phone calls or text messages over a wire, we need to change the information into a different kind of wave that can travel through the wire. This is called modulation.

Carrierless amplitude phase modulation (CAP) is a type of modulation that changes the way the wave looks so we can send information. Imagine that we draw a line to represent the electrical signal, like a squiggly line that goes up and down on a graph. CAP changes the shape of this line in two ways, one that has to do with how high or low it goes (amplitude) and another that has to do with its position, or where it is on the graph (phase).

Now, the name of this type of modulation gives us a hint about what makes it different from other types - carrierless. This means that we don't need to use a separate wave to carry the information, like in other types of modulation such as amplitude modulation (AM) or frequency modulation (FM).

Instead, CAP uses the natural properties of the wire or cable to carry the signal. It does this by using different frequencies for different parts of the signal. So, if we have a lot of information to send, we might use a higher frequency to change the shape of the wave more often, and if we have less information, we might use a lower frequency.

In summary, carrierless amplitude phase modulation (CAP) is a way of changing the shape of an electrical signal so we can send information over a wire, without needing a separate wave to carry it. It does this by using different frequencies to represent different parts of the signal.