COFDM

A signal modulation scheme that sends a stream of data symbols in a massively parallel fashion, with multiple independent subcarriers, that is, small slices of spectrum within the designated carrier frequency band. Each subcarrier carries a small of the total data stream. In the case of 802.11a, aka Wi-Fi5, for example, each carrier channel is 20 MHz wide, and is subdivided into 52 subcarrier channels, each of which is approximately 300 kHz wide. See also 802.11a, carrier, channel, DMT, frequency band, modulation, orthogonal, signal, symbol, and Wi-Fi.