CSTS: A Benchmark for the Discovery of Correlation Structures in Time Series Clustering

Time series clustering promises to uncover hidden structural patterns in data with applications across healthcare, finance, industrial systems, and other critical domains. However, without validated ground truth information, researchers cannot objectively assess clustering quality or determine whether poor results stem from absent structures in the data, algorithmic limitations, or inappropriate validation methods, raising the question whether clustering is "more art than science" (Guyon et al., 2009). To address these challenges, we introduce CSTS (Correlation Structures in Time Series), a synthetic benchmark for evaluating the discovery of correlation structures in multivariate time series data. CSTS provides a clean benchmark that enables researchers to isolate and identify specific causes of clustering failures by differentiating between correlation structure deterioration and limitations of clustering algorithms and validation methods. Our contributions are: (1) a comprehensive benchmark for correlation structure discovery with distinct correlation structures, systematically varied data conditions, established performance thresholds, and recommended evaluation protocols; (2) empirical validation of correlation structure preservation showing moderate distortion from downsampling and minimal effects from distribution shifts and sparsification; and (3) an extensible data generation framework enabling structure-first clustering evaluation. A case study demonstrates CSTS's practical utility by identifying an algorithm's previously undocumented sensitivity to non-normal distributions, illustrating how the benchmark enables precise diagnosis of methodological limitations. CSTS advances rigorous evaluation standards for correlation-based time series clustering.

Temporal patterns in insulin needs for Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is a chronic condition where the body produces little or no insulin, a hormone required for the cells to use blood glucose (BG) for energy and to regulate BG levels in the body. Finding the right insulin dose and time remains a complex, challenging and as yet unsolved control task. In this study, we use the OpenAPS Data Commons dataset, which is an extensive dataset collected in real-life conditions, to discover temporal patterns in insulin need driven by well-known factors such as carbohydrates as well as potentially novel factors. We utilised various time series techniques to spot such patterns using matrix profile and multi-variate clustering. The better we understand T1D and the factors impacting insulin needs, the more we can contribute to building data-driven technology for T1D treatments.