What is the time taken for an RF signal to travel from the transmitter to the receiver known as?

The interval between a signal’s transmission and its reception is called propagation delay; it represents the finite time an electromagnetic wave needs to traverse the medium at approximately the speed of light.

A – Reflection is an RF phenomenon where waves bounce from obstacles; it is not a timing metric.

C – Scattering describes signal diffusion due to small objects; unrelated to travel time.

D – Link speed expresses data-rate capability, not physical propagation time.

1. MIT OpenCourseWare 6.02 “Digital Communication Systems”, Lecture notes L5, Section “Propagation Delay” (p. 3).

2. Cisco Press, CCNA Wireless 200-355 OCG, ch. 4 “RF Fundamentals”, para. “Propagation delay” (p. 108).