A system and method for transmitting data bursts over a constant data rate link that transmits a continuous stream of data is disclosed. A transmitter node accesses a region in a memory to form a continuous stream of data, wherein the region is a circular buffer and is accessed in a circular manner. The continuous stream of data is transmitted from the circular buffer, wherein the circular buffer initially contains dummy data. A data burst is stored in the circular buffer at a selected location and a control message is transmitted with an indication of the selected location of the data burst in the circular buffer. The data burst is transmitted as part of the continuous stream of data from the circular buffer.