Bit time is a concept in computer networking. It is defined as the time it takes for one bit to be ejected from a Network Interface Card (NIC) operating at some predefined standard speed, such as 10 Mbit/s. The time is measured between the time the logical link control layer 2 sublayer receives the instruction from the operating system until the bit actually leaves the NIC. The bit time has nothing to do with the time it takes for a bit to travel on the network medium, but has to do with the internals of the NIC.
To calculate the bit time at which a NIC ejects bits, use the following:
bit time = 1 / NIC speedTo calculate the bit time for a 10 Mbit/s NIC, use the formula as follows:
bit time = 1 / (10 * 10^6) = 10^-7 = 100 * 10^-9 = 100 nanosecondsThe bit time for a 10 Mbit/s NIC is 100 nanoseconds. That is, a 10 Mbit/s NIC can eject 1 bit every 100 nanoseconds.
Bit time is distinctively different from slot time, which is the time taken for a pulse to travel through the longest permitted length of network medium.
Famous quotes containing the words bit and/or time:
“I have given my pain a name and call it “dog”Mit is every bit as faithful, every bit as nosey and shameless, every bit as entertaining, every bit as clever as any other dog—and I can boss it around and vent my bad moods on it, just as others do with their dogs, servants, and wives.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Fathers and Sons is not only the best of Turgenev’s novels, it is one of the most brilliant novels of the nineteenth century. Turgenev managed to do what he intended to do, to create a male character, a young Russian, who would affirm his—that character’s—absence of introspection and at the same time would not be a journalist’s dummy of the socialistic type.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)