Analysis of age groups and motion speed using smart phone accelerometers

The growth of cellular technology has opened doors to many fields of research, one of these being the testing and analyzing of sensors found in almost all smart phones. The data collected from these sensors is analyzed to provide sensitive information about the user. One of these sensors, the accelerometer, is a powerful device that is used to record acceleration along the three axes. The readings obtained from this device can be analyzed to estimate the motion speed and the age group of an individual. This paper depicts a detailed study of the smart phone accelerometer values of individuals whose ages span over a wide range, for four levels of motion mainly, walking, slow running, normal running and fast running. Three parameters, mean peak time, average acceleration and maximum acceleration were used to test the collected data. The accelerometer values for the three parameters obtained, per age group, per motion speed were analyzed and several observations were noted. Observations of those parameters that stood out for a particular age group and those parameters that differed from one age group to another were also made.