ITdB

ITdB is a proposed decibel-based metric used in telecommunications and information technology to express the efficiency of information transfer. Unlike conventional decibel measures that quantify power or amplitude, ITdB relates the actually achieved information rate to a chosen reference rate, using the same logarithmic scale as other dB measures. The term does not correspond to a single universal standard and its exact definition can vary by context.

Commonly, ITdB is defined as ITdB = 10 log10(R / Rref), where R is the measured information rate and Rref is a defined reference rate, such as the channel capacity C or a specified target rate. If R ≤ Rref, ITdB is non-positive; R = Rref yields ITdB = 0 dB, and lower values indicate lower throughput relative to the reference. The choice of Rref determines whether ITdB is used to assess efficiency, gap to capacity, or reliability.

Usage of ITdB appears in research discussions and industry analyses as a compact way to report throughput efficiency without committing to a particular capacity model. It is sometimes used alongside traditional metrics like signal-to-noise ratio, Eb/N0, or spectral efficiency.

ITdB is not currently part of any official international standard. Its meaning is therefore context-dependent, and care is required to specify the reference rate and measurement conditions when reporting ITdB values.

Related concepts include data rate, channel capacity, spectral efficiency, and decibel-based measures such as SNR.