<
communications> (Or "throughput,
data rate", "transmission
rate") The amount of
data transferred in one direction over
a link divided by the time taken to
transfer it, usually
expressed in bits per second (bps), bytes per second (Bps) or
baud. The link may be anything from an interface to a {hard
disk} to a radio transmission from a satellite.
Where
data transfer is not continuous throughout the given
time interval, the
data transfer rate is thus an average
rate
that will be lower than the peak
rate. The peak or maximum
possible
rate may itself be lower than the
capacity of the
communication channel if the channel is shared, or part of the
signal is not considered as
data, e.g.
checksum or
routing
information.
When applied to
data rate, the multiplier
prefixes "kilo-",
"mega-", "giga-", etc. (and their abbreviations, "k", "M",
"G", etc.) always denote powers of 1000. For example, 64 kbps
is 64,000 bits per second. This contrasts with units of
storage where they stand for powers of 1024, e.g. 1 KB =
1024 bytes.
The other important characteristic of a channel is its
latency.
The
bandwidth of a channel determines the
data transfer rate
but is a different characteristic, measured in
Hertz.
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(2008-02-08)