Returns the mean vector of the turning angles, as defined by Batschelet, (1981). A unit vector is created for each turning angle in the trajectory, and the centre-of-mass/mean vector is returned.
TrajMeanVectorOfTurningAngles(trj, compass.direction = NULL)
A complex number r
which represents the mean vector,
Mod(r)
is the length of the mean vector which varies between 0 and
1, Arg(r)
is the angle.
Trajectory object.
If not NULL
, step angles are calculated
relative to this angle (in radians), otherwise they are calculated relative
to the previous step angle.
According to Batschelet (1981), r
may serve as a straightness index
ranging from 0 to 1, where r
is the length of the mean vector of
turning angles of a trajectory with constant step length. Values of r
near 1 indicating straighter paths. Hence, r =
Mod(TrajMeanVectorOfTurningAngles(trj))
, assuming that trj
has a
constant step length (e.g. has been rediscretized).
Batschelet, E. (1981). Circular statistics in biology. ACADEMIC PRESS, 111 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK, NY 10003, 1981, 388.
TrajStraightness
, TrajAngles
,
TrajRediscretize
for resampling a trajectory to a constant
step length, TrajResampleTime
for resampling a trajectory to
a constant step time.