Overview#
Round-Trip Time (RTT) in telecommunications or Round-trip delay time (RTD) is the length of time (Lifetime) it takes for a signal or packet to be sent plus the length of time it takes for an acknowledgement of that signal to be received.Round-Trip Time includes the propagation times for the paths between the two communication endpoints.
In space technology, the round-trip delay time or round-trip Lifetime is the time light (and hence any signal) takes to go to a space probe and return.
In the context of computer networks, the signal is generally a data packet, and the RTT is also known as the "ping" time. An internet user can determine the RTT by using the ping command.