Monitoring sports and swimming

Abstract

A data logger for a swimmer which includes an accelerometer, and a GPS unit to sense position and velocity, a heart rate monitor, a controller programmed to manipulate the data and provide a display of the heart rate, lap times, stroke rate etc. The data can be stored or transmitted to a remote computer for use by the coach. The device can also be adapted for other sports.

1 . A data acquisition system for use in swimming events which incorporates 
 a) a global position sensor to derive three dimensional positioning data relative to time elapse    b) at least one accelerometer to derive acceleration and velocity data in three dimensions    c) a microcontroller with a clock to interrogate the global position sensor and to collect the accelerometer data    d) a power supply    e) communication means for transmission of global position and accelerometer data from the microcontroller to a computer device    f) the computer device being programmed to use the global position and accelerometer data to provide accurate and continuous output of parameters such as velocity acceleration and distance traveled.    
   
   
       2 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 1  in which velocity is derived from the global position sensor and the accelerometer data is sampled to obtain movement characteristics in swimming  
   
   
       3 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the accelerometer data is integrated to derive velocity related movement characteristics and drift is be checked every second using the output from the global position sensor.  
   
   
       4 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 1  wherein an inertial navigation system based on the accelerometer data is used to determine position when the GPS system is unable to receive data.  
   
   
       5 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 1  which includes a display screen.  
   
   
       6 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 5  in which the global position sensor is located in a separate unit to the micro controller and the display.  
   
   
       7 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 6  in which the global position sensor is adapted to be mounted on the swimmers head and the display unit is adapted to be mounted on the swimmers wrist  
   
   
       8 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 1  which also includes a physiological sensor.  
   
   
       9 . A data acquisition system as claimed in  claim 6  in the physiological sensor is a heart rate monitor.