Blog

Here is a demonstration of my colleague Fahd illustrating orientation measurement using a single sensor with embedded accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer.  The accelerometer measures displacement in three axes (xyz), the gyroscope measures orientation based upon angular momentum, and the magnetometer measures the strength/direction of magnetic fields.

Together, these embedded sensor devices enable us to identify at high resolution the position and orientation of both people and objects (in the video, we are sampling data at 500HZ, or 500 samples/second).   By collecting this data, we are able to do extensive real-time and longitudinal analysis of posture, balance, direction of movement, activity level, activity type, and more in free living environments. 

In practice, the value here is most applicable to clinical settings, where doctors, nurses, health coaches, trainers, and caretakers can identify behavioral patterns in remote environments (e.g. the home) and target interventions accordingly using phones, tablets and other cloud-connected devices.