Consistency of the fittest: Towards dynamic staleness control for edge data analytics

Abstract

A critical challenge for data stream processing at the edge of the network is the consistency of the machine learning models in distributed worker nodes. Especially in the case of non-stationary streams, which exhibit high degree of data set shift, mismanagement of models poses the risks of suboptimal accuracy due to staleness and ignored data. In this work, we analyze model consistency challenges of distributed online machine learning scenario and present preliminary solutions for synchronizing model updates. Additionally, we propose metrics for measuring the level and speed of data set shift.