[Boost-users] Boost.DateTime library to synthesise time-series data?

Subject: [Boost-users] Boost.DateTime library to synthesise time-series data?
From: Riskybiz (riskybizlive_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-12-19 05:40:06

Dear boost-users,

 

It's my first time trying this and hope that someone may be able to
enlighten me about which aspects of the Boost.DateTime library will help
solve this problem...

 

I have some time-series data which is time stamped with
boost::posix_time::ptime values.  From this base-series I would like to
synthesise higher interval time-series.  For example, a base-series of 1
second time-series data could be used to synthesise a time-series of any
greater interval; 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 86400 seconds (1 day) etc.  Or 1
minute base-series data could be used to synthesise, 2 min, 15min, 60 min
time-series etc.

 

It is entirely possible that any given base-series time point could be
absent i.e. there could be time gaps in the base-series.

 

I have an idea to use boost::posix_time::time_period  to create regularly
temporally spaced  'buckets' of the required time interval; into which the
base-series data elements would accumulate and thus allow the synthesising
of the higher interval time-series.  Each 'bucket' represents one higher
interval time-series data element.

 

It is important that the 'buckets' are aligned with natural multiples of the
time interval for which they are accumulating. So for example a 10 second
synthesised time-series would have boost::posix_time::time_period 'buckets'
like so at: 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50 & 51-60 seconds time_periods.

 

The first data element of the base-series could fall at any time, it could
be on the 7th second of a minute, equally it could be on the 59th minute of
an hour.  Somehow the first boost::posix_time::time_period 'bucket' for a
particular synthesised interval must be set such that it spans the correct
period of time and ends on a multiple of the time-series interval which is
being synthesised.  Put simply, that first base-series data element needs to
fall into a correctly aligned time_period 'bucket'.

 

Using Boost.Date_Time how could the boost::posix_time::ptime of the first
data element of the base-series be examined and the first time_period
'bucket' be correctly aligned to the relevant begin and end times for the
synthesised time-series?  I envisage subsequent 'buckets' will be created by
incrementing forward in time from the datum of the first.

 

With grateful thanks for any assistance,

 

Riskybiz.