Throughput

Throughput is the rate at which a system processes items or transmits data, typically measured as the amount of data successfully delivered per unit time in networks or as items produced per time in manufacturing. It reflects actual performance, distinct from capacity or maximum possible throughput.

In communications and computer networks, throughput is often expressed in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second, and sometimes in packets per second. In practice, the term goodput is used to denote the rate of useful data delivered, excluding protocol overhead and retransmissions; throughput can refer to the overall data rate including overhead.

Throughput is influenced by congestion, errors, protocol overhead, latency, and processing limitations at endpoints and in nodes such as switches and routers. The relationship between throughput, bandwidth, and latency is central: capacity or bandwidth is the maximum rate the channel could carry; throughput is what is actually achieved, which may be lower due to overhead and delays.

In manufacturing, throughput is the number of units produced and passed to the next stage per unit time, limited by bottlenecks in the production line. Measurements are typically averaged over a specified time window and may be reported per hour, per minute, or per second.

Optimization efforts aim to increase throughput by reducing overhead, eliminating bottlenecks, increasing parallelism, improving error handling, and balancing load. Related concepts include bandwidth, latency, and queueing theory, as well as the distinction between throughput and capacity.