Measuring Sprint Speed with Ultra-wideband Technology

Abstract: Sprinting can be an important ability in sports, and there are many methods for measuring sprint performance. Two common methods are hand-held timing and fully automatic timing systems. However, hand-held timing is inaccurate due to reaction time, and fully automatic timing can be impractical since it involves complex equipment. Another way of measuring sprint performance is to obtain an athlete's velocity curve with a laser speed gun, although this requires that the laser is aimed towards the sprinter at all times. In this project, ultra-—widebandwhich is a radio technology capable of accurate —rangingis evaluated in a practical experiment by observing an athlete sprinting over a short distance. First, a pair of communicating ranging devices are developed. Measurements are then collected from the athlete and compared to video analysis to estimate the ranging error. The results suggest that ultra-wideband may be an alternative to laser speed guns for measuring sprint velocity. In the future, research should be focused on calibrating devices and testing ultra-wideband technology for longer sprint distances.