Network Communication Overhead

Definition ∞ Network Communication Overhead quantifies the additional data or processing required to facilitate communication between nodes in a distributed system, beyond the actual payload of the transmitted information. This includes protocol headers, acknowledgments, and synchronization messages. High overhead can reduce network efficiency, increase latency, and consume more bandwidth. Minimizing this overhead is a common design goal for scalable systems.
Context ∞ In blockchain technology, Network Communication Overhead is a significant factor in determining the scalability and transaction throughput of a decentralized network. News articles often discuss how different consensus mechanisms and sharding solutions aim to reduce this overhead to allow for more transactions per second. Efficient management of communication overhead is critical for the widespread adoption of digital asset systems.