How to Calculate BDP

BDP is the acronym for the term "Bandwidth Delay Product," which is used in the field of data communications. BDP refers to the total of a data link's capacity times its end-to-end delay. BDP determines how much data can be in transit within a network. You can calculate Bandwidth Delay Product using the formula BDP = Bandwidth * Round Trip Time (RTT).

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Determine the amount of Bandwidth that will be used in the equation. For this example, we will use 100 mbs (in bits per second).

2. Gather information on the network's Round Trip Time. For this example, we will use .07 seconds.

3. Multiply the Bandwidth (100 mps) * RTT (.07), which equals 7.

4. Divide the product, which is 7, by 8 to obtain mb format of .875 mb.

5. Convert the mb product by multiplying it by 1,000 to get the final BDP in kbs, which is 875.

6. Use the referenced online calculator to verify your answer.

Tips & Warnings

• BDP is generally discovered by sending test data into the network and measuring the latency of the "ping" being sent between two routers.

References

• BDP: Definition
• BDP Online Calculator