The microsecond is an SI submultiple representing 10⁻⁶ seconds. It is the baseline timescale for electronics, microprocessors, and high-speed communications. Radio waves and light travel exactly 300 metres in a vacuum during one microsecond, making it a fundamental unit for radar timing and network latency calculations.
Heard on the job
The interrupt routine executes in about four microseconds, leaving plenty of overhead for the main control loop.
Insider tip
In networking and software engineering, engineers often abbreviate it in speech as mikes.