Running, Tennis, Fencing and Swimming. What do these sports have in common?
Sensors.
In fast-growing numbers, athletes and health-conscious individuals are monitoring the physical parameters of their bodies or immediate environment by wearing wristbands, watches, headbands, necklaces, ankle bracelets, skin patches, belts and other fitness accessories – all of which include miniature, low-power sensors. As a result of this trend, TE Connectivity is applying its sensor technologies in new ways to help people track, measure, and analyze data while participating in everyday sporting activities such as running, swimming, fencing and tennis, as well as many other activities in our daily lives.
Whether it’s an altimeter built into a wearable band to measure how many steps we climb, or a sports watch charting the ascent up one of the world’s highest mountain peaks, miniature sensors are used to convey critical information in our daily lives. Sensors can be designed into numerous sports equipment such as: tennis rackets, golf clubs, golf balls, skis, football helmets, hockey helmets, vests/apparel, track shoes/running shoes, as well as horse racing saddles and racing cars and boats.
Many of these wearable sensor applications stem from advances in biomedical engineering. Cutting-edge sensor innovations include measuring temperature, oxygen saturation levels and heart rate (SpO2) through photo optic sensors in wearable rings and wrist devices. Some of the most common wearable devices include a temperature sensor taped to the skin measuring either local air temperature or skin expiration temperatures, pressure sensors found in multi-function sport watches and fitness bands to monitor inhalation and expiration activity, and altimeters used in diving watches or computers. All of these help to provide safety in leisure activities. Piezoelectric fluoropolymer film enables your clothing, martial arts vest or bed to monitor your heart rate, breathing and even how well you sleep.
In the hyper competitive world of sports, mere fractions of a second are all that lies between first and second place. Every athlete aims to be in top shape. They train for years—some train for most of their lives—for the chance to win. How then, when the differences between athletes are becoming more and more slight, do competitors focus their training in order to achieve success?
Sensors.
By placing small, unobtrusive sensors into their training gear, athletes can quantify not only heart rate and respiration but also muscle activity and exertion. With this level of detailed information, athletes and coaches can identify very precise areas for improvement. For example, changes in altitude have a significant impact on aerobic capacity. So, targeted training focused on increasing lung capacity can help mitigate the impact altitude will have on the athlete. Soft, comfortable sensors embedded into the torso area of a runner’s singlet can gauge the VO2 (volume of oxygen) max levels for the athlete and measure any increases experienced as a result of proper training. When embedded into compression shirts and shorts, accelerometers and conductive materials can measure posture and provide real-time feedback to athletes so they can perfect their form.
It’s one thing for coaches to provide verbal feedback to their athletes, it’s something else entirely for the athlete to see themselves projected in real time against an ideal silhouette, executing the same move. In these ways and more, adding sensors to sports equipment will continue to revolutionize the way athletes train and compete.
For example, pole vaulters could improve their performance by adding altimeters to their head, hands, feet, and even their bottoms to monitor the height of each part of their body as they clear the bar. Most people don’t know this, but a vaulter’s center of gravity actually passes UNDER the bar during a successful vault. Monitoring the altitude and motion of their limbs and timing various movements correctly could help them develop perfect form for passing each part of their body over the bar. The same is true for high-jumpers.
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are working with TE Connectivity to take advantage of their sensing technology solutions for the wearable and consumer electronics market. While most of this development is proprietary in nature and secured by various Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), there are various applications that can still be discussed.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capability in pressure sensing manufacturing, combined with technologies requiring low power, offer OEMs the opportunity to package board-mountable sensors in devices. These sensors, which measure barometric pressure, altitude or liquid levels, are incorporated into wrist devices worn by sky divers to monitor their fall to earth, by swim divers to measure their ocean descents and by individuals who just happen to be curious about their altitude above sea level. These inexpensive MEMS pressure sensors can calculate how many stairs have been climbed over specified time intervals – a capability helpful in recording exercise regimens – and are also being used as fall sensors for the elderly.
Although most of these examples relate to specific sensors, there is growing interest in packaging several sensors together in modules, mixing and matching sensors according to individual needs. The modules can be worn over longer periods of time, with battery charging options and USB functionality for data transfer. Cost-efficiencies are maximized when OEMs work together with sensor manufacturers, like TE Connectivity, that offers design services and a wide range of sensing technologies.
This is a sponsored post by TE Connectivity. To learn more please visit TE.com.