scholarly journals Biomechanics of Trail Running Performance: Quantification of Spatio-Temporal Parameters by Using Low Cost Sensors in Ecological Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2093
Author(s):  
Noé Perrotin ◽  
Nicolas Gardan ◽  
Arnaud Lesprillier ◽  
Clément Le Goff ◽  
Jean-Marc Seigneur ◽  
...  

The recent popularity of trail running and the use of portable sensors capable of measuring many performance results have led to the growth of new fields in sports science experimentation. Trail running is a challenging sport; it usually involves running uphill, which is physically demanding and therefore requires adaptation to the running style. The main objectives of this study were initially to use three “low-cost” sensors. These low-cost sensors can be acquired by most sports practitioners or trainers. In the second step, measurements were taken in ecological conditions orderly to expose the runners to a real trail course. Furthermore, to combine the collected data to analyze the most efficient running techniques according to the typology of the terrain were taken, as well on the whole trail circuit of less than 10km. The three sensors used were (i) a Stryd sensor (Stryd Inc. Boulder CO, USA) based on an inertial measurement unit (IMU), 6 axes (3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer) fixed on the top of the runner’s shoe, (ii) a Global Positioning System (GPS) watch and (iii) a heart belt. Twenty-eight trail runners (25 men, 3 women: average age 36 ± 8 years; height: 175.4 ± 7.2 cm; weight: 68.7 ± 8.7 kg) of different levels completed in a single race over a 8.5 km course with 490 m of positive elevation gain. This was performed with different types of terrain uphill (UH), downhill (DH), and road sections (R) at their competitive race pace. On these sections of the course, cadence (SF), step length (SL), ground contact time (GCT), flight time (FT), vertical oscillation (VO), leg stiffness (Kleg), and power (P) were measured with the Stryd. Heart rate, speed, ascent, and descent speed were measured by the heart rate belt and the GPS watch. This study showed that on a ≤10 km trail course the criteria for obtaining a better time on the loop, determined in the test, was consistency in the effort. In a high percentage of climbs (>30%), two running techniques stand out: (i) maintaining a high SF and a short SL and (ii) decreasing the SF but increasing the SL. In addition, it has been shown that in steep (>28%) and technical descents, the average SF of the runners was higher. This happened when their SL was shorter in lower steep and technically challenging descents.

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Teufl ◽  
Michael Lorenz ◽  
Markus Miezal ◽  
Bertram Taetz ◽  
Michael Fröhlich ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to assess the validity and test-retest reliability of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) system for gait analysis. Twenty-four healthy subjects conducted a 6-min walking test and were instrumented with seven IMUs and retroreflective markers. A kinematic approach was used to estimate the initial and terminal contact events in real-time. Based on these events twelve spatio-temporal parameters (STP) were calculated. A marker based optical motion capture (OMC) system provided the reference. Event-detection rate was about 99%. Detection offset was below 0.017 s. Relative root mean square error (RMSE) ranged from 0.90% to 4.40% for most parameters. However, the parameters that require spatial information of both feet showed higher errors. Step length showed a relative RMSE of 6.69%. Step width and swing width revealed the highest relative RMSE (34.34% and 35.20%). Test-retest results ranged from 0.67 to 0.92, except for the step width (0.25). Summarizing, it appears that the parameters describing the lateral distance between the feet need further improvement. However, the results of the validity and reliability of the IMU system encourage its validation in clinical settings as well as further research.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruihao Li ◽  
Chunlian Fu ◽  
Wei Yi ◽  
Xiaodong Yi

The low-cost Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) can provide orientation information and is widely used in our daily life. However, IMUs with bad calibration will provide inaccurate angular velocity and lead to rapid drift of integral orientation in a short time. In this paper, we present the Calib-Net which can achieve the accurate calibration of low-cost IMU via a simple deep convolutional neural network. Following a carefully designed mathematical calibration model, Calib-Net can output compensation components for gyroscope measurements dynamically. Dilation convolution is adopted in Calib-Net for spatio-temporal feature extraction of IMU measurements. We evaluate our proposed system on public datasets quantitively and qualitatively. The experimental results demonstrate that our Calib-Net achieves better calibration performance than other methods, what is more, and the estimated orientation with our Calib-Net is even comparable with the results from visual inertial odometry (VIO) systems.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 550
Author(s):  
Roberto Sanchis-Sanchis ◽  
Alberto Encarnación-Martínez ◽  
Jose I. Priego-Quesada ◽  
Inmaculada Aparicio ◽  
Irene Jimenez-Perez ◽  
...  

Amateur runners usually run carrying implements in their hands (keys, a mobile phone, or a bottle of water). However, there is a lack of literature about the effects of different handloads on impact accelerations. Thus, this study aimed to analyse the effects of carrying different objects in the hand on impact accelerations during running. Nineteen male recreational runners (age 24.3 ± 6.8 years, training volume of 25 ± 7.38 km/week) performed twenty minutes of running on a treadmill at 2.78 m/s with four different conditions: no extra weight, with keys, with a mobile phone, and with a bottle of water. Impact acceleration and spatio-temporal parameters were analysed through a wireless triaxial accelerometry system composed of three accelerometers: two placed in each tibia and one placed on the forehead. A higher tibia acceleration rate in the dominant leg was observed when participants ran holding both a mobile phone (p = 0.027; ES = 0.359) and a bottle of water (p = 0.027; ES = 0.359), compared to no extra weight. No changes were observed in peak acceleration, acceleration magnitude, and shock attenuation in any other conditions. Likewise, neither stride frequency nor step length was modified. Our results suggest that recreational runners should not worry about carrying objects in their hands, like a mobile phone or a bottle of water, in short races because their effect seems minimal.


Robotica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Majid Yekkehfallah ◽  
Ming Yang ◽  
Zhiao Cai ◽  
Liang Li ◽  
Chuanxiang Wang

SUMMARY Localization based on visual natural landmarks is one of the state-of-the-art localization methods for automated vehicles that is, however, limited in fast motion and low-texture environments, which can lead to failure. This paper proposes an approach to solve these limitations with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) based on a state estimation algorithm that fuses information from a low-cost MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit and a Time-of-Flight camera. We demonstrate our results in an indoor environment. We show that the proposed approach does not require any global reflective landmark for localization and is fast, accurate, and easy to use with mobile robots.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 848
Author(s):  
Karla Miriam Reyes Leiva ◽  
Milagros Jaén-Vargas ◽  
Miguel Ángel Cuba ◽  
Sergio Sánchez Lara ◽  
José Javier Serrano Olmedo

The rehabilitation of a visually impaired person (VIP) is a systematic process where the person is provided with tools that allow them to deal with the impairment to achieve personal autonomy and independence, such as training for the use of the long cane as a tool for orientation and mobility (O&M). This process must be trained personally by specialists, leading to a limitation of human, technological and structural resources in some regions, especially those with economical narrow circumstances. A system to obtain information about the motion of the long cane and the leg using low-cost inertial sensors was developed to provide an overview of quantitative parameters such as sweeping coverage and gait analysis, that are currently visually analyzed during rehabilitation. The system was tested with 10 blindfolded volunteers in laboratory conditions following constant contact, two points touch, and three points touch travel techniques. The results indicate that the quantification system is reliable for measuring grip rotation, safety zone, sweeping amplitude and hand position using orientation angles with an accuracy of around 97.62%. However, a new method or an improvement of hardware must be developed to improve gait parameters’ measurements, since the step length measurement presented a mean accuracy of 94.62%. The system requires further development to be used as an aid in the rehabilitation process of the VIP. Now, it is a simple and low-cost technological aid that has the potential to improve the current practice of O&M.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huisheng Liu ◽  
Zengcai Wang ◽  
Susu Fang ◽  
Chao Li

A constrained low-cost SINS/OD filter aided with magnetometer is proposed in this paper. The filter is designed to provide a land vehicle navigation solution by fusing the measurements of the microelectromechanical systems based inertial measurement unit (MEMS IMU), the magnetometer (MAG), and the velocity measurement from odometer (OD). First, accelerometer and magnetometer integrated algorithm is studied to stabilize the attitude angle. Next, a SINS/OD/MAG integrated navigation system is designed and simulated, using an adaptive Kalman filter (AKF). It is shown that the accuracy of the integrated navigation system will be implemented to some extent. The field-test shows that the azimuth misalignment angle will diminish to less than 1°. Finally, an outliers detection algorithm is studied to estimate the velocity measurement bias of the odometer. The experimental results show the enhancement in restraining observation outliers that improves the precision of the integrated navigation system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 08 (02) ◽  
pp. 209-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håkon Kvale Stensland ◽  
Vamsidhar Reddy Gaddam ◽  
Marius Tennøe ◽  
Espen Helgedagsrud ◽  
Mikkel Næss ◽  
...  

There are many scenarios where high resolution, wide field of view video is useful. Such panorama video may be generated using camera arrays where the feeds from multiple cameras pointing at different parts of the captured area are stitched together. However, processing the different steps of a panorama video pipeline in real-time is challenging due to the high data rates and the stringent timeliness requirements. In our research, we use panorama video in a sport analysis system called Bagadus. This system is deployed at Alfheim stadium in Tromsø, and due to live usage, the video events must be generated in real-time. In this paper, we describe our real-time panorama system built using a low-cost CCD HD video camera array. We describe how we have implemented different components and evaluated alternatives. The performance results from experiments ran on commodity hardware with and without co-processors like graphics processing units (GPUs) show that the entire pipeline is able to run in real-time.


Author(s):  
Jong-Hwa Yoon ◽  
Huei Peng

Knowing vehicle sideslip angle accurately is critical for active safety systems such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC). Vehicle sideslip angle can be measured through optical speed sensors, or dual-antenna GPS. These measurement systems are costly (∼$5k to $100k), which prohibits wide adoption of such systems. This paper demonstrates that the vehicle sideslip angle can be estimated in real-time by using two low-cost single-antenna GPS receivers. Fast sampled signals from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) compensate for the slow update rate of the GPS receivers through an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Bias errors of the IMU measurements are estimated through an EKF to improve the sideslip estimation accuracy. A key challenge of the proposed method lies in the synchronization of the two GPS receivers, which is achieved through an extrapolated update method. Analysis reveals that the estimation accuracy of the proposed method relies mainly on vehicle yaw rate and longitudinal velocity. Experimental results confirm the feasibility of the proposed method.


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