Durationare

Durationare is a conceptual unit used in time estimation for planning and simulation. It denotes the predicted duration of a future task or event, expressed as a real-valued quantity with an associated confidence interval. The term is primarily used in contexts where uncertainty matters, such as automated planning, scheduling, and activity simulation.

Etymology and scope: The word durationare is a neologism formed from the word duration and a Romance-language style suffix intended to evoke forecastability. It does not refer to a physical unit of time itself, but to a labeled estimate of duration within a model or forecast.

Definition and notation: A durationare value, D, is reported in seconds (or other time units) as the estimated mean duration of a task. In practice, analysts accompany D with a lower and upper bound, D_low and D_high, representing a confidence interval, for example D = 3.2 s with [2.8 s, 3.6 s].

Measurement and sources: Durationare estimates are derived from historical execution data, sensor readings, and predictive models. They can be updated online as new information arrives or as the underlying process evolves.

Applications: In robotics, logistics, and IT scheduling, durationare values help allocate time budgets, optimise sequences of actions, and simulate system behavior under uncertainty. It complements probabilistic latency and wait-time measures rather than replacing them.

Status and reception: Durationare is a niche concept, not part of formal standards. It is used mainly in exploratory or theoretical work and may vary in definition across disciplines. As of now, there is no universal specification for durationare, and its use depends on the modeling context.