Wearable sensor system for monitoring body kinematics

Existing human body motion capture solutions rely on camera based systems limited to confined measurements, or Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) prone to noise and drift, resulting in position inaccuracies. This investigation demonstrates a proof-of-concept wearable sensor system which accurately monitors human body kinematics in real-time using Radio Frequency (RF) positioning sensors combined with MEMS based IMU sensors. In certain IMU orientations, we measured an average pitch error of <; 2 degrees for the combined method, compared with 12 degrees for an IMU alone. This self-contained sensor network has applications including military training, gaming, sports and healthcare.