G.fast uses time division duplexing (TDD) rather than frequency division duplexing, as it was used in previous DSL systems, to allow a more energy efficient analog and mixed-signal design. Besides the TDD scheme, G.fast introduces a method called “Discontinuous Operation” (DO) to further reduce the transmit and receive time within a frame, depending on the current data traffic. The main reason to introduce DO is power consumption, but it can also be used to increase data rates.