Quaternion entropy for analysis of gait data

Nonlinear dynamical analysis is a powerful approach to understanding biological systems. One of the most used metrics of system complexities is the Kolmogorov entropy. Long input signals without noise are required for the calculation, which are very hard to obtain in real situations. Techniques allowing the estimation of entropy directly from time signals are statistics like approximate and sample entropy. Based on that, the new measurement for quaternion signal is introduced. This work presents an example of application of a nonlinear time series analysis by using the new quaternion, approximate entropy to analyse human gait kinematic data. The quaternion entropy was applied to analyse the quaternion signal which represents the segments orientations in time during the human gait. The research was aimed at the assessment of the influence of both walking speed and ground slope on the gait control during treadmill walking. Gait data was obtained by the optical motion capture system.