Channel (link) load
Beginner
How much data has to squeeze through one particular road between two cores.
Novice
The amount of traffic that must cross one link of the network, for example in bytes per image processed. The most heavily loaded link sets how fast the whole network can go.
Expert
Defined for a traffic pattern and routing function. Saturation throughput is link bandwidth divided by the maximum channel load, so placement and routing that lower the worst link raise throughput even if total traffic is unchanged.
Explained in Dataflow and spatial meshes (Architectures).
See also: Network-on-chip (NoC).