Figure 2. Secret key and reconciled key throughput for fixed-rate and rate-adaptive reconciliation with an LDPC code of rate R₀ = 0.75.

Raw key and asymptotic secret key throughput are as in Fig. 1. Secret key throughput using the reconciliation efficiency of Cascade without taking into account the penalty introduced by the extra communications required by this protocol. The rate adaptive protocol reduces the reconciled key throughput due to its complexity compared to the fixed rate protocol. However, because of its higher efficiency the secret key throughput improves over the whole range of distances, reaching slightly farther than Cascade.