UTCcombine

UTCcombine is a method for merging multiple time-stamped data streams that are referenced to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) into a single consolidated time series. It is used to harmonize events recorded on different devices with clocks that may drift or skew.

The procedure involves aligning timestamps using clock offset estimation, adjusting for leap seconds, and resolving duplicate events. It optionally applies a time-warp function to bring events into a common UTC frame, then aggregates by defined windows or by event identity.

Typical algorithms include consensus-based merging, median or weighted averaging of timestamps, and windowed deduplication. Reliability metadata such as source quality or known drift is used to weight contributions.

Applications include sensor networks, distributed logging, astronomy and geophysics data analysis, financial tick data consolidation, and any system requiring coherent time alignment across devices.

Implementation considerations include integration with time synchronization protocols such as NTP and PTP, handling missing or late-arriving data, and managing performance and memory trade-offs. The approach must address leap seconds and other UTC adjustments while DST is not used by UTC.

See also time synchronization, NTP, PTP, clock drift, time series.