Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Time stamp alignment
Also known as: Timestamp alignment, Timestamp correlation
German: Zeitstempelausrichtung
In data integration and analysis, time stamp alignment is the process of bringing timestamps from different sources onto a common time basis and resolution, for example by correcting offsets, converting time zones and resampling, so that the data can be compared and combined.
- System integration
In one sentence
Time stamp alignment puts timestamps from different sources on a common time basis and resolution so data can be compared and combined.
Example
Before analyzing a quality problem, an engineer aligns the 10 ms drive data with the one-second process data and the MES batch events, all converted to UTC.
How it applies
- Data engineering: Alignment handles clock offsets, time zones and daylight saving time, different sampling rates and delays between event and recording. Record which corrections were applied.
- Analysis: Misaligned data leads to wrong conclusions about cause and effect; a few hundred milliseconds can reverse the apparent order of events.
- AI and analytics: Training data for machine learning models must be aligned consistently; otherwise models learn from shifted relations.
- Documentation: Data interfaces and exports should state the time basis, resolution and the point at which timestamps are generated, so users of the data can align it correctly.
Time stamp alignment vs. time synchronization
Time synchronization aligns clocks before data is recorded. Time stamp alignment corrects and harmonizes timestamps after recording. Good synchronization reduces the need for alignment but does not remove it, for example when combining data of different resolutions.