Hburst

HBURST is a term used in information technology to describe a class of techniques for managing bursty data traffic. In its broad sense, HBURST denotes both protocol specifications and scheduling algorithms designed to improve throughput and predictability when data arrives in short, high-volume bursts.

Although the exact expansion of the acronym HBURST varies by implementation, it is commonly interpreted as High-Bandwidth Burst. The concept centers on shaping and controlling bursts rather than steady, continuous transmission, enabling more efficient use of network resources while limiting contention.

Core mechanisms typically involve organizing data into bursts with a defined maximum size and duration, using a burst window parameter to decide when to transmit. A token or credit system, along with buffers at senders and receivers, helps enforce quality of service and bound latency.

Development and evaluation of HBURST have occurred in academic papers and prototype networks since the late 2000s. Studies often use simulation and emulation to compare HBURST against traditional congestion control and traffic shaping approaches, focusing on tail latency, jitter, and fairness.

Applications cited for HBURST include data center and enterprise networks, streaming media, cloud gaming, and Internet of Things backhaul, where traffic tends to be bursty and predictability is valuable for coordination with other services.

Advantages claimed for HBURST include improved throughput for bursty traffic, reduced tail latency, and better resource utilization. Criticisms point to added design complexity, sensitivity to misestimation of burst parameters, and potential interoperability challenges with legacy protocols.

Further reading and related concepts include burst traffic shaping, QoS, and packet scheduling. The HBURST concept remains a topic of study, with various implementations exploring different optimization goals such as latency, fairness, and energy efficiency.