A
multichannel telecommunications
system in which a number of individual circuits (
data, voice, or combination thereof) are multiplexed for
transmission between nodes of a
network. (
188 )
Note 1: In
carrier systems, many different forms of
multiplexing may be used, such as
time-division multiplexing and
frequency-division multiplexing.
Note 2: Multiple layers of multiplexing may ultimately be performed upon a given
input signal;
i.e., the
output resulting from one stage of
modulation may in turn be modulated.
Note 3: At a given
node, specified channels, groups, supergroups,
etc., may be demultiplexed without
demultiplexing the others.
Synonym (loosely) carrier.