ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Subcarrier multiplexing

Okay kiddo, do you know what a radio station is? Yes? Great! So, when you listen to your favorite radio station, you hear a lot of different songs and sounds, right? But did you know that all those different sounds are being sent to your radio at the same time?

Well, subcarrier multiplexing is kind of like that. It's a way to send lots of different sounds or data over the same channel. Think of it like a big highway with lots of cars driving on it. Each car is different and has its own destination, but they all have to use the same road.

In subcarrier multiplexing, we use different "lanes" on the highway. Instead of cars, we have tiny signals called subcarriers. Each subcarrier is like a mini-radio station, sending its own sounds or data. But instead of using different frequencies like real radio stations, all the subcarriers use the same frequency but are separated by encoding them with different patterns. It's kind of like different colors of cars using the same lane but always staying in their own line so they don’t crash with other cars.

This way, we can send lots of information over the same channel, without everything getting mixed up. We can use subcarrier multiplexing to send lots of different things like music, voice calls, and even internet data, all at the same time. It's like a traffic cop directing all the different cars to go to their own destinations without crashing into one another. Pretty cool, huh?