A method for controlling a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system includes applying a time window to sensor data associated with the VRF system, the sensor data including input data points and having a first resolution, wherein applying the time window to the sensor data isolates a subset of the input data points; applying a timing weight to one or more input data points in the subset of the input data points to generate corrected data points having a second resolution higher than the first resolution; creating a virtual sensor and mapping the corrected data points to an output of the virtual sensor; and controlling the VRF system based on an output of the virtual sensor. The use of virtual sensors with a higher resolution than corresponding physical sensors in this manner allows for existing physical sensors to be used while improving performance of the VRF system.