filter_mnirs: Filter a data frame

In mnirs: Muscle Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Processing and Analysis

Filter a data frame

Description

Apply digital filtering/smoothing to numeric vector data within a data frame using either:

1. A cubic smoothing spline.

2. A Butterworth digital filter.

3. A simple moving average.

Note the method-specific arguments below.

Usage

filter_mnirs(
  data,
  nirs_channels = NULL,
  time_channel = NULL,
  method = c("smooth_spline", "butterworth", "moving_average"),
  na.rm = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE,
  ...,
  spar = NULL,
  order = 2L,
  W = NULL,
  fc = NULL,
  sample_rate = NULL,
  type = c("low", "high", "stop", "pass"),
  edges = c("rev", "rep1", "none"),
  width = NULL,
  span = NULL,
  partial = FALSE
)

Arguments

data	A data frame of class "mnirs" containing time series data and metadata, a list of data frames, or a grouped data frame (see Details).
nirs_channels	A character vector giving the names of mNIRS columns to operate on. Must match column names in data exactly. If NULL (default), the nirs_channels metadata attribute of data is used.
time_channel	A character string naming the time or sample column. Must match a column name in data exactly. If NULL (default), the time_channel metadata attribute of data is used.
method	A character string indicating how to filter the data. Additional arguments must be specified for each method. See Details. "smooth_spline" Fits a cubic smoothing spline. Additional arguments: spar. "butterworth" Uses a centred Butterworth digital filter. Additional arguments: order, W or fc, sample_rate, type, edges. See filter_butterworth(). "moving_average" Uses a centred moving average filter. Additional arguments: width or span, partial. See filter_moving_average().
na.rm	Logical; default is FALSE, propagates any NAs to the returned vector. If TRUE, ignores NAs and processes available valid samples within the local window. May return errors or warnings. (see Details).
verbose	Logical. TRUE (default) will display, and FALSE will silence warnings and information messages helpful for troubleshooting. Global default can be set via options(mnirs.verbose = FALSE).
...	Additional arguments passed to the underlying method function. See Details.
spar	smooth_spline: A numeric smoothing parameter passed to stats::smooth.spline(). If NULL (default), automatically determined via penalised log likelihood.
order	butterworth: An integer defining the filter order (default order = 2).
W	butterworth: A one- or two-element numeric vector within ⁠[0, 1]⁠ defining the filter cutoff frequency(ies) as a fraction of the Nyquist frequency (see Details). One of either W or fc must be specified.
fc	butterworth: A one- or two-element numeric vector defining the filter absolute cutoff frequency in Hz. Used with sample_rate to compute W. One of either W or fc must be specified.
sample_rate	butterworth: A numeric sample rate in Hz. Will be taken from metadata or estimated from time_channel if not defined.
type	butterworth: A character string specifying filter type, one of: c("low", "high", "stop", "pass") ("low" is the default).
edges	butterworth: A character string specifying the edge padding, one of: c("rev", "rep1", "none") ("rev" is the default). See filter_butterworth().
width	moving_average: An integer number of samples within the local window. One of either width or span must be specified.
span	moving_average: A numeric time duration in units of time_channel within the local window. One of either width or span must be specified.
partial	moving_average: Logical; default is FALSE, only returns values where a full window of valid (non-NA) samples are available. If TRUE, ignores NA and processes available valid samples (see Details).

Details

method = "smooth_spline"

Aliases: method = c("smooth spline", "spline")

Applies a non-parametric cubic smoothing spline from stats::smooth.spline(). Smoothing is defined by the parameter spar, which can be left as NULL and automatically determined via penalised log likelihood. This usually works well for responses occurring on the order of minutes or longer. spar can be specified typically, but not necessarily, in the range ⁠spar = [0, 1]⁠.

method = "butterworth"

Aliases: method = c("butter")

Applies a centred (two-pass symmetrical) Butterworth digital filter from signal::butter() and signal::filtfilt().

Filter type defines how the desired signal frequencies are either passed or rejected from the output signal. Low-pass and high-pass filters allow only frequencies lower or higher than the cutoff frequency, respectively to be passed through to the output signal. Stop-band defines a critical range of frequencies which are rejected from the output signal. Pass-band defines a critical range of frequencies which are passed through as the output signal.

The filter order (number of passes) is defined by order, typically in the range ⁠order = [1, 10]⁠. Higher filter order tends to capture more rapid changes in amplitude, but also causes more distortion around those change points in the signal. General advice is to use the lowest filter order which sufficiently captures the desired rapid responses in the data.

The critical (cutoff) frequency can be defined by W, a numeric value for low-pass and high-pass filters, or a two-element vector c(low, high) defining the lower and upper bands for stop-band and pass-band filters. W represents the desired fractional cutoff frequency in the range ⁠W = [0, 1]⁠, where 1 is the Nyquist frequency, i.e., half the sample_rate of the data in Hz.

Alternatively, the cutoff frequency can be defined by fc and sample_rate together. fc represents the desired cutoff frequency directly in Hz, and sample_rate is the sample rate of the recorded data in Hz. Where W = fc / (sample_rate / 2).

Only one of either W or fc should be defined. If both are defined, W will be preferred over fc.

method = "moving_average"

Aliases: method = c("moving average", "ma")

Applies a centred (symmetrical) moving average filter in a local window, defined by either width as the number of samples around idx between ⁠[idx - floor(width/2), idx + floor(width/2)]⁠. Or by span as the timespan in units of time_channel between ⁠[t - span/2, t + span/2]⁠.

Missing values

Missing values (NA) in nirs_channels will cause an error for method = "smooth_spline" or "butterworth", unless na.rm = TRUE. Then NAs will be ignored and passed through to the returned data.

For method = "moving_average", na.rm controls whether NAs within each local window are either propagated to the returned vector when na.rm = FALSE (the default), or ignored before processing if na.rm = TRUE.

Value

A tibble of class "mnirs" with metadata available with attributes(). For list or grouped data frame input, returns a named list of "mnirs" tibbles, one per interval.

Data input formats

mnirs processing functions accept data in multiple formats:

• A single "mnirs" data frame is processed and returned directly.

• A list of "mnirs" data frames: each interval is processed separately and returned as a named list.

• A grouped "mnirs" data frame, e.g. with dplyr::group_by(): the data frame is split by grouping levels and each group is processed as a separate interval, returned as a named list.

Per-channel arguments

Arguments apply globally to all nirs_channels by default. Relevant arguments can instead be supplied uniquely per-channel as a named list(), with names matching nirs_channels, e.g.

replace_mnirs(
    data,
    nirs_channels = c(hhb, smo2),
    invalid_values = list(hhb = -1, smo2 = c(0, 100)),
    invalid_above = list(hhb = 10),
    span = list(3, hhb = 5)
)

• A non-list value applies to every channel (the default behaviour).

• A list() named by nirs_channels applies per-channel values.

• A single unnamed value in the list will be applied to unlisted channels (e.g. span = list(3, hhb = 5) gives hhb 5 and every other channel 3). If no unnamed fallback value in the list, channels not named in the list will be returned un-processed (e.g. span = list(hhb = 5) will only process hhb).

• list() names not matching nirs_channels are warned about and ignored.

Examples

## read example data and clean for outliers
data <- read_mnirs(
    file_path = example_mnirs("moxy_ramp"),
    nirs_channels = c(smo2 = "SmO2 Live"),
    time_channel = c(time = "hh:mm:ss"),
    verbose = FALSE
) |>
    replace_mnirs(
        invalid_values = c(0, 100),
        outlier_cutoff = 3,
        width = 7,
        verbose = FALSE
    )

data

data_filtered <- filter_mnirs(
    data,                   ## blank channels will be retrieved from metadata
    method = "butterworth", ## Butterworth digital filter is a common choice
    order = 2,              ## filter order number
    W = 0.02,               ## filter fractional critical frequency `[0, 1]`
    type = "low",           ## specify a "low-pass" filter
    na.rm = TRUE            ## explicitly ignore NAs
)

## note the smoothed `smo2` values
data_filtered


    if (requireNamespace("ggplot2", quietly = TRUE)) {
        ## plot filtered data on top of raw to compare
        plot(data_filtered, time_labels = TRUE) +
            ggplot2::geom_line(
                data = data,
                ggplot2::aes(y = smo2, colour = "smo2"), alpha = 0.4
            )
    }

mnirs documentation built on Sept. 13, 2026, 1:06 a.m.