Network delay is a design and performance characteristic of a
telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a group of Node (networking), nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit ...
. It specifies the
latency for a bit of data to travel across the network from one
communication endpoint
A communication endpoint is a type of Node (networking), communication network node. It is an interface exposed by a communicating party or by a communication channel. An example of the latter type of a communication endpoint is a publish–subscr ...
to another.
It is typically measured in multiples or fractions of a second. Delay may differ slightly, depending on the location of the specific pair of communicating endpoints. Engineers usually report both the maximum and average delay, and they divide the delay into several parts:
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Processing delay
In a network based on packet switching, processing delay is the time it takes routers to process the packet header. Processing delay is a key component in network delay.
During processing of a packet, routers may check for bit-level errors in t ...
time it takes a router to process the packet header
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Queuing delay
In telecommunications and computer engineering, the queuing delay is the time a job waits in a queue until it can be executed. It is a key component of network delay. In a switched network, queuing delay is the time between the completion of si ...
time the packet spends in routing queues
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Transmission delay
In a network based on packet switching, transmission delay (or store-and-forward delay, also known as packetization delay or serialization delay) is the amount of time required to push all the packet's bits into the wire. In other words, this is ...
time it takes to push the packet's bits onto the link
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Propagation delay
Propagation delay is the time duration taken for a signal to reach its destination, for example in the electromagnetic field, a wire, speed of sound, gas, fluid or seismic wave, solid body.
Physics
* An electromagnetic wave travelling through ...
time for a signal to propagate through the media
A certain minimum level of delay is experienced by signals due to the time it takes to
transmit a packet serially through a
link. This delay is extended by more variable levels of delay due to
network congestion
Network congestion in data networking and queueing theory is the reduced quality of service that occurs when a network node or link is carrying more data than it can handle. Typical effects include queueing delay, packet loss or the blocking of ...
.
IP network
The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...
delays can range from a few milliseconds to several hundred milliseconds.
See also
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Age of Information
The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...
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End-to-end delay
End-to-end delay or one-way delay (OWD) refers to the time taken for a Packet (information technology), packet to be transmitted across a computer network, network from source to destination. It is a common term in IP network monitoring, and differ ...
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Lag (video games)
In computers, lag is delay ( latency) between the action of the user (input) and the reaction of the server supporting the task, which has to be sent back to the client.
The player's ability to tolerate lag depends on the type of game being p ...
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Latency (engineering)
Latency, from a general point of view, is a time delay between the Causality, cause and the effect of some physical change in the system being observed. Lag (video games), Lag, as it is known in Gaming culture, gaming circles, refers to the late ...
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Minimum-Pairs Protocol
The minimum-pairs (or MP) is an active measurement protocol to estimate in real-time the smaller of the forward and reverse End-to-end delay, one-way network delays (OWDs). It is designed to work in hostile environments, where a set of three net ...
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Round-trip delay
In telecommunications, round-trip delay (RTD) or round-trip time (RTT) is the amount of time it takes for a signal to be sent ''plus'' the amount of time it takes for acknowledgement of that signal having been received. This time delay includes p ...
References
External links
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Computer networking
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