In direct sequence spread spectrum technologies such as DSSS and CDMA, the chip rate is the number of bits per second (chips per second) in the spreading signal. To uniquely code each transmission, a different spreading signal is added to the data, and the number of bits in the spreading signal is significantly greater than the data bits. Chip rate is measured in "megachips per second" (Mcps). See
spread spectrum,
CDMA and
802.11.