Estimating Digital Information Throughput Rates for Radiology Networks

The design and implementation of a digital radiology image management system requires the definition, evaluation, and comparison of appropriate measures of system performance. The mean throughput rate is an important measure of the actual performance of a finished system. The mean throughput rate identifies the transmission of digital information either in bits/second or tasks/second. It is dependent on software, database management, equipment interface designs, number of users and display stations, and communications media. The mean throughput rate can document resource allocation bottlenecks within a given system. A model for estimating the mean throughput rate and its application in helping us design our radiology digital image networks is described.