Propagation delay

Updated: 10/01/2023 by Computer Hope

Propagation delay or propagation time is the time from when a data signal is sent to when it is received. This term can relate to networking, electronics, or physics.

With networking, propagation delay is how long it takes for a signal to travel from the sender to the receiver. This value is the distance (d) / wave propagation speed (s).

With electronics, propagation delay or gate delay is the time for a logic gate or logic circuit to change the output. Logic gates can have a propagation delay ranging from 10 ns to the picosecond range.

Delay, Hardware terms, Network terms