Authors:
Harald Loose
1
;
Katja Orlowski
1
and
Robert Amann
2
Affiliations:
1
Fachhochschule Brandenburg, Germany
;
2
Fachhochschule Vorarlberg, Austria
Keyword(s):
IMU, Sensors, Systems, Gait Analysis, Gait Events, Gait Feature, Positions, Angles.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Applications and Services
;
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Signal Processing
;
Computer Vision, Visualization and Computer Graphics
;
Medical Image Detection, Acquisition, Analysis and Processing
Abstract:
The paper deals with inertial measurement units (IMU) and their application in gait analysis in the wide range from movement monitoring through rehabilitation feedback to sports improvement. An IMU sensor incorporates three microelectromechanical sensors - triple-axis gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer – and, optionally, a barometer. The outputs of all sensors are processed by an on-board microprocessor and sent over a serial interface using wired or wireless communication channels. The on-board processing may include sensor conditioning, compensations, strap-down integration as well as determination of orientation. The sensor output is sent to applications working on standard PC, tablets or smart phones using different sampling rates. The output data of one IMU sensor allow motion analysis of the sensor unit itself as well as the motion of the limb where the sensor is mounted to. Using a combination of two or more sensors the movement of limbs/legs can be compared; their relativ
e motion can be investigated; angles can be calculated.
In general, in motion and gait analysis, we like to get primary information about the position of all interesting points, the orientation of the limbs and the joint angles at each moment of time as well as derived averaged and summarized characteristics about the motion and the gait. Based on our own investigations the paper discusses how much information is really necessary to determine gait events and gait features for different purposes.
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