Abstract: Clustering is an important task in data mining that aims to group data instances together

based on their similarities. However, traditional clustering algorithms are designed for static datasets
and are not well-suited for streaming data, which is rapidly generated and arrives in a continuous
flow. Clustering on data stream is a challenging task due to the high-speed nature of data and the
constraint of limited memory. In this paper, we review recent advances in clustering on data streams
and classify them based on their characteristics, performance, and scalability. We also discuss the
challenges and open research issues in this field and highlight future directions for research.

Keywords: Clustering, Data Stream, Stream Processing, Streaming Algorithms

Introduction:

Clustering is an unsupervised machine learning task that groups data points into clusters based on
their similarity. Clustering has many practical applications, such as image segmentation, customer
segmentation, and anomaly detection. Clustering on data streams is a challenging task because
streaming data refers to a continuous flow of data that is generated rapidly and arrives in an
unbounded manner. In contrast to static data, where we can store the entire dataset in memory and
process it offline, with streaming data, we have to process the incoming data in real-time using
limited resources.

In this paper, we will review the recent advances in clustering on data streams. We will first provide
an overview of the challenges and requirements of clustering on data streams. We will then review
the existing approaches for clustering on data streams and classify them based on their
characteristics, performance, and scalability. We will also discuss the open research issues and
challenges in this field and highlight future directions for research.

Challenges and Requirements:

Clustering on data streams poses several challenges, such as handling the high-speed nature of data,
constraints of limited memory and computational resources, and preserving the clustering quality
over time. Additionally, the data quality may also vary over time, requiring the clustering algorithms
to be robust to outliers and noise. The following are the primary requirements of clustering on data
streams:

Incremental Processing: The algorithms should be able to process the incoming data instances in a
single pass and update the clustering model incrementally in real-time.
Limited Memory: Clustering on data streams requires algorithms that consume a limited amount of
memory since data streams have unbounded size.

Scalability: The algorithms should be scalable, meaning they should handle large data streams
efficiently and be able to process data instances in constant time or sub-linear time.

Robustness: The algorithms should be robust to noise and outliers since data streams may contain
irrelevant or noisy data that would affect clustering quality.

Adaptable: The algorithms should be adaptable to changing data distributions over time and be able
to update and restructure the clustering model to reflect the changing data properties.

Approaches for Clustering on Data Streams:

Several approaches have been proposed for clustering on data streams. In general, these
approaches can be classified into two categories: centroid-based and density-based clustering.

Centroid-based Clustering:

Centroid-based clustering algorithms partition the data space into non-overlapping clusters based on
the distance metric between the data instances and the centroid of the existing clusters. The
algorithms update the centroids of the clusters after processing each new data instance. K-means is
a popular centroid-based clustering algorithm in the batch setting, but it is not suitable for streaming
data due to the constraint of limited memory and the inability to handle a variable number of
clusters.

To overcome the limitations of K-means, several variants of K-means have been proposed for
streaming data. CluStream is a popular centroid-based streaming algorithm that uses micro-clusters
to represent the data distribution and approximate the cluster centroids. The micro-clusters are
generated by summarizing the statistical properties of the data instances in the stream. CluStream
can handle a varying number of clusters and adapt to changes in the data distribution over time.
However, CluStream may suffer from loss of accuracy when the number of clusters is large.

Density-based Clustering:
Density-based clustering algorithms partition the data space into clusters based on the density of
data points in the vicinity of each other. Density-based clustering is more suitable for data streams
since it does not require the explicit definition of the number of clusters.

DBSCAN is a popular density-based clustering algorithm in the batch setting. DBSTREAM is a

Conclusion:

Clustering on data stream is a challenging task due to the high-speed nature of data and the
constraint of limited memory. In this paper, we have reviewed recent advances in clustering on data
streams and classified them based on their characteristics, performance, and scalability. We have
also discussed the challenges and open research issues in this field and highlighted future directions
for research. Clustering on data streams is an active research area that requires new and innovative
approaches to handle large
Introduction:

Data stream clustering is an important technique that is used to analyze data in real-time. With the
increasing amount of data generated by different sources, the traditional clustering techniques that
require random access to the entire dataset become inefficient. Therefore, developing efficient
algorithms that can analyze data continuously and in real-time is essential. In this survey paper, we
aim to evaluate the efficiency of different data stream clustering algorithms based on various
characteristics such as their suitability for different applications, scalability, and robustness to noise.

Methods:

We conducted an extensive survey of the research literature related to data stream clustering. We
searched for relevant papers published in various scientific databases, including IEEE Xplore, ACM
Digital Library, and ScienceDirect. We also consulted conference proceedings and books related to
the topic. We selected articles that discussed different data stream clustering algorithms and
evaluated their efficiency based on various parameters.

Results:

Our analysis of the literature revealed that there are several data stream clustering algorithms
available that differ in terms of their efficiency. Some of the popular algorithms are CluStream,
DenStream, BIRCH, and DBSCAN. CluStream is suitable for applications that require real-time
clustering and online processing. DenStream, on the other hand, is appropriate for datasets with
varying densities and changing cluster shapes. BIRCH is suitable for large datasets, whereas DBSCAN
is useful for datasets with complex structures and varying densities.

We also found that the scalability of the algorithms is an essential factor that influences their
efficiency. Several algorithms such as CluStream, DenStream, and BIRCH can handle large datasets
efficiently. However, other algorithms such as DBSCAN and OPTICS may be affected by the curse of
dimensionality and become inefficient for high-dimensional datasets.

Furthermore, the issue of the robustness of the algorithms to noise was found to be an important
characteristic. While CluStream and DenStream can handle noisy data with varying densities, other
algorithms such as BIRCH and DBSCAN may be affected by the presence of noise.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the design of efficient data stream clustering algorithms is essential for real-time
applications. Our study showed that there are several algorithms available that offer different
features based on the characteristics of the datasets. Therefore, choosing the appropriate algorithm
based on the requirements of the application is crucial. Moreover, there is still scope for further
research in this area to develop more efficient algorithms that can handle noisy and high-
dimensional datasets.