modulation

This generically refers to how some physical medium – like a wire or a radio signal – is modified to carry data. It might be by moving the voltageVoltage is what gets electrons to flow. It's analogous to water pressure, which gets water to flow. Voltage is measured in units of "volts." up and down, or it might be by changing frequencies of some periodicThis can be a characteristic of some signal. If the signal changes somehow, and that change repeats itself exactly over time, over and over - like a sine wave - then the signal is said to be periodic. The amount of time it takes for the signal to repeat itself is called the "period." signal. There are lots of ways of “coding” data so that it can travel across the medium. It’s a really low-level detail; most of us don’t need to know any of the fine print. The opposite of modulation is demodulationThis generically refers to how data can be received on some physical medium - like a wire or a radio signal. Voltages might be moving up and down, or the frequency of some periodic signal might be changing. There are lots of ways of "coding" data so that it can travel across the medium. It's a really low-level detail; most of us don't need to know any of the fine print. The opposite of demodulation is modulation , and a piece of network equipment that does both (modulation for sending, demodulation for receiving) is called a "modem.", and a piece of networkA collection of items like computers, printers, phones, and other electronic items that are connected together by switches and routers. A network allows the connected devices to talk to each other electronically. The internet is an example of an extremely large network. Your home network, if you have one, is an example of a small local network. equipment that does both (modulation for sending, demodulation for receiving) is called a “modemA piece of network equipment that converts data into a format that can be transmitted. Old modems sent the data on a phone line; modern cable modems send the data across a cable connection. It stands for "modulator/demodulator.".”