ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Repeater insertion

Imagine you have a very long piece of string that you need to pull from one side of the room to the other. But as you try to pull it, you realize that the string is too long and it gets tangled up and doesn't move properly.

So you decide to add some extra helpers, like other people who can pull the string with you. These people help you by grabbing onto the string, but they can only reach a certain distance before the string becomes too hard to pull.

So you add more helpers in between to make sure that the string can move smoothly from one end to the other. And these helpers are called repeaters. They help to make sure that the string can travel a longer distance without getting tangled or hard to pull.

In a computer network, data is also like the string that needs to travel from one end to the other. But sometimes, the data needs to travel a very long distance, and it can get distorted or lost along the way.

This is where repeater insertion comes in. A repeater is a device that receives the data signal and re-transmits it, making sure that the signal reaches its destination without distortion. By inserting a repeater along the way, the data can travel much longer distances without getting lost or distorted.

So, in short, repeater insertion is like adding helpers to a string-pulling game or adding extra power to make sure that data can travel long distances without losing its quality.