Lets assume we have a dataset which might be given approximately by

import numpy as np
x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,100)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(100) * 0.2

Therefore we have a variation of 20% of the dataset. My first idea was to use the UnivariateSpline function of scipy, but the problem is that this does not consider the small noise in a good way. If you consider the frequencies, the background is much smaller than the signal, so a spline only of the cutoff might be an idea, but that would involve a back and forth fourier transformation, which might result in bad behaviour. Another way would be a moving average, but this would also need the right choice of the delay.

Any hints/ books or links how to tackle this problem?

I prefer a Savitzky-Golay filter. It uses least squares to regress a small window of your data onto a polynomial, then uses the polynomial to estimate the point in the center of the window. Finally the window is shifted forward by one data point and the process repeats. This continues until every point has been optimally adjusted relative to its neighbors. It works great even with noisy samples from non-periodic and non-linear sources.

Here is a thorough cookbook example. See my code below to get an idea of how easy it is to use. Note: I left out the code for defining the savitzky_golay() function because you can literally copy/paste it from the cookbook example I linked above.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,100)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(100) * 0.2
yhat = savitzky_golay(y, 51, 3) # window size 51, polynomial order 3

plt.plot(x,y)
plt.plot(x,yhat, color='red')
plt.show()

UPDATE: It has come to my attention that the cookbook example I linked to has been taken down. Fortunately, the Savitzky-Golay filter has been incorporated into the SciPy library, as pointed out by @dodohjk. To adapt the above code by using SciPy source, type:

from scipy.signal import savgol_filter
yhat = savgol_filter(y, 51, 3) # window size 51, polynomial order 3

A quick and dirty way to smooth data I use, based on a moving average box (by convolution):

x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,100)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(100) * 0.8

def smooth(y, box_pts):
    box = np.ones(box_pts)/box_pts
    y_smooth = np.convolve(y, box, mode='same')
    return y_smooth

plot(x, y,'o')
plot(x, smooth(y,3), 'r-', lw=2)
plot(x, smooth(y,19), 'g-', lw=2)

If you are interested in a “smooth” version of a signal that is periodic (like your example), then a FFT is the right way to go. Take the fourier transform and subtract out the low-contributing frequencies:

import numpy as np
import scipy.fftpack

N = 100
x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,N)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(N) * 0.2

w = scipy.fftpack.rfft(y)
f = scipy.fftpack.rfftfreq(N, x[1]-x[0])
spectrum = w**2

cutoff_idx = spectrum < (spectrum.max()/5)
w2 = w.copy()
w2[cutoff_idx] = 0

y2 = scipy.fftpack.irfft(w2)

Even if your signal is not completely periodic, this will do a great job of subtracting out white noise. There a many types of filters to use (high-pass, low-pass, etc…), the appropriate one is dependent on what you are looking for.

Fitting a moving average to your data would smooth out the noise, see this this answer for how to do that.

If you’d like to use LOWESS to fit your data (it’s similar to a moving average but more sophisticated), you can do that using the statsmodels library:

import numpy as np
import pylab as plt
import statsmodels.api as sm

x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,100)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(100) * 0.2
lowess = sm.nonparametric.lowess(y, x, frac=0.1)

plt.plot(x, y, '+')
plt.plot(lowess[:, 0], lowess[:, 1])
plt.show()

Finally, if you know the functional form of your signal, you could fit a curve to your data, which would probably be the best thing to do.

Another option is to use KernelReg in statsmodels:

from statsmodels.nonparametric.kernel_regression import KernelReg
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.linspace(0,2*np.pi,100)
y = np.sin(x) + np.random.random(100) * 0.2

# The third parameter specifies the type of the variable x;
# 'c' stands for continuous
kr = KernelReg(y,x,'c')
plt.plot(x, y, '+')
y_pred, y_std = kr.fit(x)

plt.plot(x, y_pred)
plt.show()

Check this out! There is a clear definition of smoothing of a 1D signal.

http://scipy-cookbook.readthedocs.io/items/SignalSmooth.html

Shortcut:

import numpy

def smooth(x,window_len=11,window='hanning'):
    """smooth the data using a window with requested size.

    This method is based on the convolution of a scaled window with the signal.
    The signal is prepared by introducing reflected copies of the signal 
    (with the window size) in both ends so that transient parts are minimized
    in the begining and end part of the output signal.

    input:
        x: the input signal 
        window_len: the dimension of the smoothing window; should be an odd integer
        window: the type of window from 'flat', 'hanning', 'hamming', 'bartlett', 'blackman'
            flat window will produce a moving average smoothing.

    output:
        the smoothed signal

    example:

    t=linspace(-2,2,0.1)
    x=sin(t)+randn(len(t))*0.1
    y=smooth(x)

    see also: 

    numpy.hanning, numpy.hamming, numpy.bartlett, numpy.blackman, numpy.convolve
    scipy.signal.lfilter

    TODO: the window parameter could be the window itself if an array instead of a string
    NOTE: length(output) != length(input), to correct this: return y[(window_len/2-1):-(window_len/2)] instead of just y.
    """

    if x.ndim != 1:
        raise ValueError, "smooth only accepts 1 dimension arrays."

    if x.size < window_len:
        raise ValueError, "Input vector needs to be bigger than window size."


    if window_len<3:
        return x


    if not window in ['flat', 'hanning', 'hamming', 'bartlett', 'blackman']:
        raise ValueError, "Window is on of 'flat', 'hanning', 'hamming', 'bartlett', 'blackman'"


    s=numpy.r_[x[window_len-1:0:-1],x,x[-2:-window_len-1:-1]]
    #print(len(s))
    if window == 'flat': #moving average
        w=numpy.ones(window_len,'d')
    else:
        w=eval('numpy.'+window+'(window_len)')

    y=numpy.convolve(w/w.sum(),s,mode='valid')
    return y




from numpy import *
from pylab import *

def smooth_demo():

    t=linspace(-4,4,100)
    x=sin(t)
    xn=x+randn(len(t))*0.1
    y=smooth(x)

    ws=31

    subplot(211)
    plot(ones(ws))

    windows=['flat', 'hanning', 'hamming', 'bartlett', 'blackman']

    hold(True)
    for w in windows[1:]:
        eval('plot('+w+'(ws) )')

    axis([0,30,0,1.1])

    legend(windows)
    title("The smoothing windows")
    subplot(212)
    plot(x)
    plot(xn)
    for w in windows:
        plot(smooth(xn,10,w))
    l=['original signal', 'signal with noise']
    l.extend(windows)

    legend(l)
    title("Smoothing a noisy signal")
    show()


if __name__=='__main__':
    smooth_demo()

If you are plotting time series graph and if you have used mtplotlib for drawing graphs then use median method to smooth-en the graph

smotDeriv = timeseries.rolling(window=20, min_periods=5, center=True).median()

where timeseries is your set of data passed you can alter windowsize for more smoothining.