Curve registration by local regression

Functional data analysis involves the extension of familiar statistical procedures such as principal-components analysis, linear modelling and canonical correlation analysis to data where the raw observation is a function x,(t). An essential preliminary to a functional data analysis is often the registration or alignment of salient curve features by suitable monotone transformations h,(t). In effect, this conceptualizes variation among functions as being composed of two aspects: phase and amplitude. Registration aims to remove phase variation as a preliminary to statistical analyses of amplitude variation. A local nonlinear regression technique is described for identifying the smooth monotone transformations h,, and is illustrated by analyses of simulated and: actual data.