High sampling rate datalogger for the characterization of acceleration signals on the human body running

This paper describes the design|, construction and characterization of an electronic device for the measurement of acceleration signals in the human body at high sampling rates. Recently, the scientific community experiments an increasing interest in the use of inertial sensors for the measurement and evaluation of human movement. Acceleration is one of the most widely used parameters to estimate movement and thus, accelerometers are commonly used as sensors. Unfortunately, several researchers use these sensors without fully consider the characteristics of the signal they want to measure. There are reports of researches using very low sampling rates for fast movements or using sensors with a very narrow range of measurement, insufficient for their application, the opposite is also found. The device presented here was developed to acquire acceleration signals in several segments of the human body during fast and normal movements, in order to characterize amplitudes and frequency components of the signal aiming to provide a guide for the researchers interested in to use inertial sensors for human movement measurement. The device developed is small, light, wearable, and capable to measure accelerations in the range of ±16 g sampling at 10 kHz. Preliminary results measuring acceleration in a healthy subject are also presented.