Propagation Delay

The Propagation Delay calculator computes the propagation delay based on the positions of two routers and the propagation speed.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (A) Position of router A on Network
• (B) Position of router B on Network
• (S) Propagation Speed

Propagation Delay (PD): The calculator returns the delay in milliseconds (ms).  However this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

The formula for propagation delay is:

    PD = ( A - B) / S

where:

• PD is the propagation delay
• A is the position of router A
• B is the position of router B
• S is the propagation speed

Once a bit is pushed into the link, it needs to propagate to router B. The time required to propagate from the beginning of the link to router B is the propagation delay. The bit propagates at the propagation speed of the link. The propagation speed depends on the physical medium of the link (that is, fiber optics, twisted-pair copper wire, and so on) and is in the range of `2*10^8 "meters/sec" to 3* 10^8 "meters/sec"` which is equal to, or a little less than, the speed of light. The propagation delay is the distance between two routers divided by the propagation speed.

Time Dependent Calculators

• Time required to process an amount of data at a specific data processing rate
• Amount of time required to transfer an amount of data over a different types of networks
• Number of items (unit-less) produced over time
• Length or distance processed (produce or consume) over time
• Area processed (produced, covered or consumed) over time
• Volume processed (produced or consumed) over time
• Weight or mass processed (produced or consumed) over time
• Speedup Factor (aka Amdahl's Law)
• Compute Data Storage Needed
• Network Propagation Delay

Telecommunications Calculators

• Propagation Delay Computes the delay between two routers based on their positions and a transfer rate.
• Nodal Delay: Computes the nodal delay based on the queuing, processing, transmission and propagation delay.
• End to End Delay Computes the end to end delay based on the number of nodes and the processing, transmission, and propagation delay.
• RF Velocity of  Propagation:  Computes the RF velocity based on the medium permittivity
• Transmission Delay: Computes the delay based on length of packet and transmission rate.
• Data Transfer Time Calculator Computes the time to transfer an amount of data based on the data transfer rate.
• Simplified Propagation Delay: Computes the delay between two router based on the distance and the transfer rate.
• Surge Impedance Loading: Computes the power loading of a transmission line.
• Amdahl's Law: Computes the total system speedup time based on the improvement of one portion.
• Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) calculator: Computes a relative measure of the strength of the received signal (i.e., the information being transmitted) compared to the noise.
• Compute Data Storage Needed: Computes the approximate amount of data storage needed based on a period of time and a data rate.
• Network Propagation Delay  Computes the propagation delay based on the positions of two routers and the propagation speed.
• Shannon-Hartley Theorem: Computes the theoretical upper limit data rate of a channel based on the bandwidth, receiver strength and channel noise.
• Cable dB Loss Budget Computes db loss based on length of fiber run and number of connectors.
• Voltage Resolution (Analog to Digital) Computes the Voltage Resolution of a measured analog signal over the nominal range [VL , VH] with a specified number of conversion bits.
• Effective Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP): Converts an EIRP measured in mw (milliwatt) to the unitless ratio of dBm (ratio of decibel to 1 milli-unit).
• Length of Cable with Sag: Computes the length of cable between pole accounting for the sag.