Congestion
Congestion is a state of excessive accumulation or overfilling or overcrowding. This general definition is broadly correct across all uses of the word. However in specific contexts the word has a more precise definition and usage.
In telecommunication, the term has the following meanings:
- In a communications switch, a state or condition that occurs when more subscribers attempt simultaneously to access the switch than it is able to handle, even if unsaturated.
- In a saturated communications system, the condition that occurs when an additional demand for service occurs.
Sources: Federal Standard 1037C and MIL-STD-188
In medicine and pathology the term is used to describe excessive accumulation of blood or other fluid in a particular part of the body, such as nasal congestion.
See the traffic congestion article for a discussion of congestion in transportation.
In electric power transmission it means the inability to supply an area with the cheapest available generation due to a binding constraint on the point to point transmission route. Some plant or equipment could be causing the constraint due to thermal overload or security limits being potentially breached.