tf_register: Register / align a 'tf' vector against a template function

In tf: S3 Classes and Methods for Tidy Functional Data

Register / align a tf vector against a template function

Description

tf_register() is the high-level entry point for functional data registration. It estimates warping functions, applies them to align the data, and returns a tf_registration result object containing the aligned curves, inverse warping functions (observed to aligned time), and template. Use tf_aligned(), tf_inv_warps(), and tf_template() to extract components.

Usage

tf_register(
  x,
  ...,
  template = NULL,
  method = c("srvf", "cc", "affine", "landmark"),
  max_iter = 3L,
  tol = 0.01,
  store_x = TRUE
)

Arguments

x	a tf vector of functions to register.
...	additional method-specific arguments passed to backend routines (for example crit for method = "cc"). See tf_estimate_warps() for method-specific argument documentation.
template	an optional tf vector of length 1 to use as the template. If NULL, a default template is computed (method-dependent). Not used for method = "landmark".
method	the registration method to use: "srvf": Square Root Velocity Framework (elastic registration). "cc": continuous-criterion registration via a tf-native dense-grid optimizer with monotone spline warps. "affine": affine (linear) registration. "landmark": piecewise-linear warps aligning user-specified landmarks.
max_iter	integer: maximum Procrustes-style template refinement iterations. Default 3L.
tol	numeric: convergence tolerance for template refinement. Default 1e-2.
store_x	logical: store original data in the result object? Default TRUE. Set to FALSE to save memory.

Details

For a lower-level interface that returns only warping functions (without performing alignment), see tf_estimate_warps().

Value

A tf_registration object. Access components with tf_aligned(), tf_inv_warps(), tf_template().

Important method-specific arguments (passed via ...)

For method = "srvf":

lambda

non-negative number: penalty controlling the flexibility of warpings (default is 0 for unrestricted warps).

penalty_method

cost function used to penalize warping functions. Defaults to "roughness" (norm of their second derivative), "geodesic" uses the geodesic distance to the identity and "norm" uses Euclidean distance to the identity.

For method = "cc":

nbasis

integer: number of B-spline basis functions for the monotone warp basis (default 6L, minimum 2).

lambda

non-negative number: roughness penalty for the warp basis (default 0 for unpenalized warping).

crit

registration criterion. Defaults to 2 for the first-eigenfunction variance criterion; alternative is 1 for integrated squared error.

conv

non-negative convergence tolerance for the inner optimizer. Default is 1e-4.

iterlim

maximum number of inner optimization iterations per curve. Default is 20L.

For method = "affine":

type

character: "shift" (translation only), "scale" (scaling only), or "shift_scale" (both). Default is "shift".

shift_range

numeric(2): bounds for shift parameter. Default is c(-range/2, range/2) where range is the domain width. Larger bounds allow greater shifts but may result in more NA values.

scale_range

numeric(2): bounds for scale parameter. Default is c(0.5, 2). Must have lower > 0.

For method = "landmark":

landmarks

(required) numeric matrix of landmark positions with one row per function and one column per landmark. Use tf_landmarks_extrema() to find peaks/valleys automatically.

template_landmarks

numeric vector of target landmark positions. Default is column-wise mean of landmarks.

Author(s)

Maximilian Muecke, Fabian Scheipl, Claude Opus 4.6

References

Ramsay JO, Hooker G, Graves S (2009). Functional Data Analysis with R and MATLAB. Springer, New York. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1007/978-0-387-98185-7")}.

Srivastava A, Wu W, Kurtek S, Klassen E, Marron JS (2011). "Registration of Functional Data Using Fisher-Rao Metric." arXiv:1103.3817.

Tucker JD, Wu W, Srivastava A (2013). "Generative models for functional data using phase and amplitude separation." Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, 61, 50–66. \Sexpr[results=rd]{tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.1016/j.csda.2012.12.001")}.

See Also

Other registration functions: tf_align(), tf_estimate_warps(), tf_landmarks_extrema(), tf_registration, tf_warp()

Examples

# Elastic registration (SRVF method)
height_female <- subset(growth, gender == "female", select = height, drop = TRUE)
growth_female <- tf_derive(height_female) |> tfd(arg = seq(1.125, 17.8), l = 101)
reg <- tf_register(growth_female)
layout(t(1:3))
plot(growth_female, xlab = "Chronological Age", ylab = "Growth Rate (cm/year)")
plot(tf_inv_warps(reg), xlab = "Chronological Age", ylab = "Biological Age")
plot(tf_aligned(reg), xlab = "Biological Age", ylab = "Growth Rate (cm/year)")

# Affine registration (shift only)
t <- seq(0, 2 * pi, length.out = 101)
x <- tfd(t(sapply(c(-0.3, 0, 0.3), function(s) sin(t + s))), arg = t)
reg <- tf_register(x, method = "affine", type = "shift")
plot(tf_aligned(reg), col = 1:3)

# Landmark registration
peaks <- tf_landmarks_extrema(x, "max")
reg <- tf_register(x, method = "landmark", landmarks = peaks)
plot(tf_aligned(reg), col = 1:3)

tf documentation built on April 7, 2026, 5:07 p.m.