FastODT: A tree-based framework for efficient continual learning

TL;DR

FastODT introduces a tree-based online learning framework that efficiently adapts to evolving data streams in resource-constrained environments, outperforming existing methods in energy and environmental sensing tasks.

Contribution

It presents a novel oblivious tree model with Hoeffding bounds for scalable, continual learning with efficient memory management and knowledge retention.

Findings

Achieves competitive or superior accuracy compared to existing methods.

Maintains high computational efficiency in online learning scenarios.

Demonstrates effectiveness across energy and environmental time-series benchmarks.

Abstract

Machine learning models deployed in real-world settings must operate under evolving data distributions and constrained computational resources. This challenge is particularly acute in non-stationary domains such as energy time series, weather monitoring, and environmental sensing. To remain effective, models must support adaptability, continuous learning, and long-term knowledge retention. This paper introduces a oblivious tree-based model with Hoeffding bound controlling its growth. It seamlessly integrates rapid learning and inference with efficient memory management and robust knowledge preservation, thus allowing for online learning. Extensive experiments across energy and environmental sensing time-series benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves performance competitive with, and in several cases surpassing, existing online and batch learning methods, while maintaining superior computational efficiency. Collectively, these results demonstrate that the proposed approach fulfills the core objectives of adaptability, continual updating, and efficient retraining without full model retraining. The framework provides a scalable and resource-aware foundation for deployment in real-world non-stationary environments where resources are constrained and sustained adaptation is essential.