IMU Sensor Module for the Measurement of High-speed Motion in the Analysis of Human Skills

Sports experts develop skills by repeatedly practicing of ideal and appropriate motions. To improve athletic ability or reduce the risk of injury associated with incorrect motion in beginners, it is necessary to quantify the information pertaining to expert skills. While inertial motion capture is a suitable method for motion analysis, existing inertial motion capture systems cannot measure acceleration and angular velocity in case of high-speed motion. The objectives of this study are to develop an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor module that can measure high-speed motion and to corroborate its basic performance. The IMU sensor module consists of an IMU sensor, acceleration and gyro sensors with wide dynamic ranges of measurement, and it can change measurement ranges according to the motion. The experiment to evaluate basic performance showed that the output exhibited a linear relationship between the evaluation system whose value was calculated from the rotational speed of the motor as a true value and the sensor module even while switching between the two types of sensors with different measurement ranges. Finally, the acceleration and angular velocity in pitching motion was measured using the developed IMU sensor module, and we confirmed that it could perform measurements at high speeds. In conclusion, an IMU sensor module that can measure high-speed motion was developed, and its basic performance was confirmed in this study.