What term describes the ratio of useful information bits to total transmitted bits?

What term describes the ratio of useful information bits to total transmitted bits?

• A. Transmission efficiency
• B. Bandwidth
• C. Throughput
• D. Latency

Answer: (A)

Transmission efficiency measures how effectively a link carries useful information. It’s the ratio of useful information bits (the payload) to the total bits transmitted, including all overhead such as headers, error-correcting codes, and preambles. For example, if a frame has 200 payload bits and 800 bits of overhead, the efficiency is 200/1000 = 0.2 (20%). This concept focuses on how much of the transmitted data is actually useful, unlike bandwidth (channel capacity in bits per second), throughput (actual payload data rate achieved), or latency (delay).

Transmission efficiency measures how effectively a link carries useful information. It’s the ratio of useful information bits (the payload) to the total bits transmitted, including all overhead such as headers, error-correcting codes, and preambles. For example, if a frame has 200 payload bits and 800 bits of overhead, the efficiency is 200/1000 = 0.2 (20%). This concept focuses on how much of the transmitted data is actually useful, unlike bandwidth (channel capacity in bits per second), throughput (actual payload data rate achieved), or latency (delay).