lowestlatency

Lowestlatency is a term used to describe systems and methods that minimize the time between an input event and its observable result. It encompasses end-to-end latency across networks, data processing, and application layers, and is commonly measured as one-way delay or round-trip time, with attention to tail latency (such as the 95th or 99th percentile).

Latency is determined by the physical and logical path data travels, along with queuing delays, processing time, and protocol overhead. It is distinct from throughput and jitter, though interrelated; a system with low average latency may still exhibit high tail latency if performance variance occurs.

Techniques to achieve lowest latency include reducing hop count by deploying edge computing closer to users, selecting low-latency transport protocols, and minimizing protocol overhead. Kernel bypass and user-space networking (such as DPDK, SPDK, and eBPF-based paths) can cut processing delays. Real-time operating systems or tightly tuned schedulers help guarantee prompt task handling. Hardware acceleration (FPGAs, ASICs, NIC offloads, RDMA) reduces processing time in the data path. Methods like zero-copy memory access, memory pinning, and aggressive prioritization and quality-of-service controls further limit delays. Efficient serialization, preallocation of resources, and minimizing queuing also contribute to lower latency.

Applications include finance, gaming, real-time communication, robotics, and industrial automation, where faster response times can improve outcomes. Balancing latency with reliability, security, and throughput remains a key challenge, and measurement requires comprehensive end-to-end instrumentation under realistic load conditions.

See also: latency, real-time computing, edge computing, quality of service, network optimization, tail latency, RDMA.