This project explores the possibility to stabilize a hand held serving-tray using a micro-controller, two servomotors and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). It is heavily focused on control theory, specifically using a PID controller. Stabilization of an object using a PID controller have many applications such as drones, camera stabilizers and flight simulators. The report covers the theory necessary to construct a self stabilizing platform and describes involving components in the prototype and how they cooperate. With the gyroscopes and accelerometers involved in the IMU it is possible to determine orientation and rotation of the tray. The construction enables rotation about the x-axis (roll) and y-axis (pitch) but not the z-axis (yaw). The readings from the gyroscopes and the accelerometers are combined and filtered through a complementary filter to estimate the rotations. The servomotors compensate disturbance in keeping the platform horizontal through PID regulation. The PID constants are tuned through tilting the platform at a specific angle and plotting the step response in MATLAB. / Detta projekt utforskar möjligheten att stabilisera en handhållen serveringsbricka med hjälp av en mikrokontroller, två servomotorer och en tröghetssensor (IMU). Projektet lägger mycket fokus på reglerteknik, specifikt att använda en PID-regulator. Stabilisering genom PID-reglering är användbart i många olika produkter, exempelvis drönare, kamerastabiliserare och flygsimulatorer. Rapporten täcker relevant teori för att konstruera en självstabiliserande plattform och beskriver ingående komponenter i prototypen samt hur de samverkar. Med gyroskopen och accelerometrarna som finns i IMU:n är det möjligt att uppskatta position och rotation för ett objekt. Konstruktionen tillåter rotation kring x-axeln (roll) och y-axeln (pitch) men inte zaxeln (yaw). Mätningarna från gyroskopen och accelerometrarna kombineras och filtreras med hjälp av ett s.k. complementary filter för att uppskatta rotationen av objektet. Servomotorerna används i sin tur till att hålla plattan horisontell genom att kompensera störningar från omgivningen. Detta görs genom PID-reglering. Konstanterna i PID-regulatorn är framtagna genom tester där plattformen lutas ett bestämt antal grader och stegsvaret plottas i MATLAB.

Syftet med att mäta vibrationer och rekyler i ett padelrack i detta arbete är att utveckla en prototyp som kan användas som träningsredskap för att minska risken för skador. En vanlig skada som drabbar padelspelare är tennisarmbåge, som enligt studier tros uppkomma genom upprepad exponering av mikrotrauman som vibrationer och rekyler. Genom att utföra en litteraturstudie i ämnet har systemkrav för ett sensorbaserat system definierats. Systemet som mäter vibrationer och rekyler har monterats i handtaget på padelracket. Två olika testmiljöer har utvecklats för att möjliggöra kontrollerade tester. För att identifiera och analysera slag använder systemet frekvensanalyser, korrelationstester och positionsförändring. Vid utveckling av metoden för identifiering av träffpunkt delades racket upp i fem olika zoner. Resultatet indikerar att träffar i två av zonerna ger upphov till mindre mängd vibrationer jämfört med de övriga zonerna. Resultatet för identifiering av träffzon varierar mellan testmiljöerna och enbart identifiering av en zon kan anses vara fungerande i båda fallen. Systemet identifierade träffzonen korrekt i 18 av 25 slag i den ena testmiljön och 9 av 25 i den andra. För att förbättra identifieringen av träffzon behövs flera analyser och korrelationtester utformas. En slutsats för det här examensarbetet är att det här arbetet kan användas som grund för vidare utveckling av ett sensorbaserat system för att identifiera träffzonen och kvantifiera vibrationer i ett padelrack. / The purpose of measuring vibrations and recoils in a padel racket in this thesis is to develop a prototype that can be used as a training equipment to reduce the risk of injury. A common injury for padel players is tennis elbow, studies show that the cause of this injury are microtraumas from vibrations and recoils. Through a literature study in the subject, system demands for a sensor-based system have been defined. The system that has been used to measure vibrations and recoils have been attached to the bottom of the handle on the padel racket. To achieve controlled tests two different test environments have been developed. To identify and analyze impacts the system utilizes frequency analysis, correlation tests and displacement tracking. For identification of the impact area the racket was divided into five zones. The result indicates, that two of the impact zones generate less vibrations than the others. The result also shows that identification of impact zone varies between the test environments and that only the sweet spot can be identified in both cases. The system identified the impact zone correctly in 18 out of 25 strokes in one test environment and 9 out of 25 in the other. To further improve the methods for identification of the impact zone more analyses and correlations tests are required. One conclusion for this thesis is that it can be used as a platform for further development of a sensor-based system that can correctly identify impacts in all zones and quantify the resulting vibrations.

This thesis investigates applicable indoor navigation systems for the next generation of hand-held shopping scanners, on behalf of the company Virtual Stores. The thesis research and review applicable indoor localization methods and ways to combine and evaluate received localization data in order to provide accurate navigation without introducing any other worn equipment for a potential user. Prototype navigation systems was proposed, developed and evaluated using a combination of carefully placed radio transmitters that was used to provide radio based localization methods using Bluetooth or UltraWide Band (UWB) and inertial sensors combined with a particle filter. The Bluetooth solution was deemed incapable of providing any accurate localization method while the prototype using a combination of UWB and inertial sensors proved promising solution with below 1m average error under optimal conditions or 2.0m average localization error in a more realistic environment. However, the system requires the surveyed area to provide 3 or more UWB transmitters in the line of sight of the UWB receiver of the user at every location facing any direction to provide accurate localization. The prototype also requires to be scaled up to provide localization to more than 1 radio transmitters at the time before being introduced to the Fast moving consumer goods market. / Denna avhandling undersöker tillämpliga inomhusnavigationssystem för nästa generations handhållna shopping terminaler, på uppdrag av företaget Virtual Stores. Avhandlingen undersöker och granskar tillämpliga inomhuslokaliseringsmetoder och sätt att kombinera och utvärdera mottagna lokaliseringsdata för att bistå med ackurat navigering utan att introducera någon ytterligare utrustning för en potentiell användare. Prototypnavigationssystem föreslogs, utvecklades och utvärderades användandes en kombination av väl utplacerade radiosändare användandes Bluetooth eller UltraWide Band (UWB) och tröghetssensorer i kombination med ett partikelfilter. Bluetooth-lösningen ansågs oförmögen att tillhandahålla någon exakt lokalisering medan prototypen som använde en kombination av UWB och tröghetssensorer visade sig vara en lovande lösnings med under 1m genomsnittligt fel under optimala förhållanden eller 2,0m genomsnittligt lokaliseringsfel i mer realistisk miljö. Systemet kräver emellertid att det undersökta området tillhandahåller 3 eller fler UWB-sändare inom synfältet för UWB-mottagaren hos användaren vid varje plats och riktning för att tillhandahålla ackurat lokalisering. Prototypen behöver skalas upp för att kunna bistå med lokalisering till mer än 1 radiomottagare innan den introduceras till detaljhandlen.

Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma inercial autônoma com três graus de liberdade para aplicação em estabilização de sensores - por exemplo, gravimétricos estacionários e embarcados - podendo ser utilizada também para estabilização de câmeras. O sistema é formado pela Unidade de Medida Inercial, IMU, desenvolvida utilizando um sensor micro eletromecânico, MEMS - que possui acelerômetro, giroscópio e magnetômetros nos três eixos de orientação - e um microcontrolador para aquisição, processamento e envio dos dados ao sistema de controle e aquisição de dados. Para controle dos ângulos de inclinação e orientação da plataforma, foi implementado um controlador PID digital utilizando microcontrolador. Este recebe os dados da IMU e fornece os sinais de controle utilizando as saídas PWM que acionam os motores, os quais controlam a posição da plataforma. Para monitoramento da plataforma foi desenvolvido um programa para aquisição de dados em tempo real em ambiente Matlab, por meio do qual se pode visualizar e gravar os sinais da IMU, os ângulos de inclinação e a velocidade angular. Testou-se um sistema de transmissão de dados por rádio frequência entre a IMU e o sistema de aquisição de dados e controle para avaliar a possibilidade da não utilização de slip rings ou fios entre o eixo de rotação e os quadros da plataforma. Entretanto, verificou-se a inviabilidade da transmissão em razão da baixa velocidade de transmissão e dos ruídos captados pelo receptor de rádio frequência durante osmovimentos da plataforma. Sendo assim, dois pares de fios trançados foram utilizados fios para conectar o sensor inercial ao sistema de aquisição e processamento. / This work presents the development of a three-degree of freedom autonomous inertial platform for the use in sensors stabilization - for example, stationary and embedded gravimeters. It can also be used to stabilize cameras. The system is composed by the Inertial Measurement Unit, IMU, developed using a micro electromechanical sensor, MEMS - which has an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer in the three axes of orientation - and a microcontroller for data acquisition, data processing and data sending to the control and data acquisition system. To control the platform angles and its orientation, a digital PID controller was implemented using a microcontroller. It receives data from the IMU and provides the control signals using the PWM outputs that drive the motors to control the platform position. In order to supervise the platform operation, a real time data acquisition software was developed in Matlab, where IMU signals, inclination angles and angular velocities can be displayed and recorded. Data transmission via radio frequency between the IMU and the data acquisition and control system was tested in order to evaluate the possibility of not using slip rings or wires between the rotation axis and platform frames. This approach was unsuccessful due to the low speed of data transmission and to the noise that affected the radio frequency receiver during the platform\'s movements. In view of that wire was used to directly connect the inertial sensor to the acquisition and processing system.

In this paper, a method for determining ground plane features in a sequence of images captured by a mobile camera is presented. The hardware of the mobile system consists of a monocular camera that is mounted on an inertial measurement unit (IMU). An image processing procedure is proposed, first to extract image features and match them across consecutive image frames, and second to detect the ground plane features using a two-step algorithm. In the first step, the planar homography of the ground plane is constructed using an IMU-camera motion estimation approach. The obtained homography constraints are used to detect the most likely ground features in the sequence of images. To reject the remaining outliers, as the second step, a new plane normal vector computation approach is proposed. To obtain the normal vector of the ground plane, only three pairs of corresponding features are used for a general camera transformation. The normal-based computation approach generalizes the existing methods that are developed for specific camera transformations. Experimental results on real data validate the reliability of the proposed method. / <p>QC 20121107</p>

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers are sensors that are widely used for land vehicle navigation. GPS receivers provide position and/or velocity data to any user on the Earth&rsquo / s surface independent of his position. Yet, there are some conditions that the receiver encounters difficulties, such as weather conditions and some blockage problems due to buildings, trees etc. Due to these difficulties, GPS receivers&rsquo / errors increase. On the other hand, IMU works with respect to Newton&rsquo / s laws. Thus, in stark contrast with other navigation sensors (i.e. radar, ultrasonic sensors etc.), it is not corrupted by external signals. Owing to this feature, IMU is used in almost all navigation applications. However, it has some disadvantages such as possible alignment errors, computational errors and instrumentation errors (e.g., bias, scale factor, random noise, nonlinearity etc.). Therefore, a fusion or integration of GPS and IMU provides a more accurate navigation data compared to only GPS or only IMU navigation data. v In this thesis, loosely coupled GPS/IMU integration systems are implemented using feed forward and feedback configurations. The mechanization equations, which convert the IMU navigation data (i.e. acceleration and angular velocity components) with respect to an inertial reference frame to position, velocity and orientation data with respect to any desired frame, are derived for the geographical frame. In other words, the mechanization equations convert the IMU data to the Inertial Navigation System (INS) data. Concerning this conversion, error model of INS is developed using the perturbation of the mechanization equations and adding the IMU&rsquo / s sensor&rsquo / s error model to the perturbed mechanization equation. Based on this error model, a Kalman filter is constructed. Finally, current navigation data is calculated using IMU data with the help of the mechanization equations. GPS receiver supplies external measurement data to Kalman filter. Kalman filter estimates the error of INS using the error mathematical model and current navigation data is updated using Kalman filter error estimates. Within the scope of this study, some real experimental tests are carried out using the software developed as a part of this study. The test results verify that feedback GPS/INS integration is more accurate and reliable than feed forward GPS/INS. In addition, some tests are carried out to observe the results when the GPS receiver&rsquo / s data lost. In these tests also, the feedback GPS/INS integration is observed to have better performance than the feed forward GPS/INS integration.

L'analyse du mouvement humain s'appuie généralement sur des techniques de suivi de marqueurs cutanés pour reconstruire la cinématique articulaire. Cependant, ces techniques d'acquisition présentent d'importantes limites dont les " artefacts de tissus mous " (i.e., le mouvement relatif entre les marqueurs cutanés et le squelette sous-jacent). La méthode d'optimisation multi-segmentaire viseà compenser ces artefacts en imposant aux trajectoires de marqueurs les degrés de liberté d'un modèle cinématique prédéfini. Les liaisons mécaniques modélisant classiquement les articulations empêchent toutefois une estimation satisfaisante de la cinématique articulaire. Cette thèse aborde des perspectives d'amélioration de la méthode d'optimisation multi-segmentaire pour l'estimation de la cinématique articulaire du membre inférieur,à travers différentes approches : (1) la reconstruction de la cinématique par suivi de la vitesse angulaire, de l'accélération et de l'orientation de centrales inertiellesà la place du suivi de marqueurs, (2) l'introduction d'un modèle articulaire élastique basé sur la matrice de raideur du genou, permettant une estimation physiologique de la cinématique articulaire et (3) l'introduction d'un modèle des artefacts de tissus mous " cinématique-dépendant ", visantà évaluer et compenser les artefacts de tissus mous simultanément avec l'estimation la cinématique articulaire. Ce travail a démontré la polyvalence de la méthode d'optimisation multi-segmentaire. Les résultats obtenus laissent espérer une amélioration significative de cette méthode qui devient de plus en plus utilisée en biomécanique, en particulier pour la modélisation musculo-squelettique / Human movement analysis generally relies on skin markers monitoring techniques to reconstruct the joint kinematics. However, these acquisition techniques have important limitations including the "soft tissue artefacts" (i.e., the relative movement between the skin markers and the underlying bones). The multi-body optimization method aims to compensate for these artefacts by imposing the degrees of freedom from a predefined kinematic model to markers trajectories. The mechanical linkages typically used for modeling the joints however prevent a satisfactory estimate of the joint kinematics. This thesis addresses the prospects of improvement of the multi-body optimization method for the estimation of joint kinematics of the lower limb through different approaches: (1) the reconstruction of the kinematics by monitoring the angular velocity, the acceleration and the orientation of magneto-inertial measurement units instead of tracking markers, (2) the introduction of an elastic joint model based on the knee stiffness matrix, enabling a physiological estimation of joint kinematics and (3) the introduction of a "kinematic-dependent" soft tissue artefact model to assess and compensate for soft tissue artefact concurrently with estimating the joint kinematics. This work demonstrated the versatility of the multi-body optimization method. The results give hope for significant improvement in this method which is becoming increasingly used in biomechanics, especially for musculoskeletal modeling

Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de uma plataforma inercial autônoma com três graus de liberdade para aplicação em estabilização de sensores - por exemplo, gravimétricos estacionários e embarcados - podendo ser utilizada também para estabilização de câmeras. O sistema é formado pela Unidade de Medida Inercial, IMU, desenvolvida utilizando um sensor micro eletromecânico, MEMS - que possui acelerômetro, giroscópio e magnetômetros nos três eixos de orientação - e um microcontrolador para aquisição, processamento e envio dos dados ao sistema de controle e aquisição de dados. Para controle dos ângulos de inclinação e orientação da plataforma, foi implementado um controlador PID digital utilizando microcontrolador. Este recebe os dados da IMU e fornece os sinais de controle utilizando as saídas PWM que acionam os motores, os quais controlam a posição da plataforma. Para monitoramento da plataforma foi desenvolvido um programa para aquisição de dados em tempo real em ambiente Matlab, por meio do qual se pode visualizar e gravar os sinais da IMU, os ângulos de inclinação e a velocidade angular. Testou-se um sistema de transmissão de dados por rádio frequência entre a IMU e o sistema de aquisição de dados e controle para avaliar a possibilidade da não utilização de slip rings ou fios entre o eixo de rotação e os quadros da plataforma. Entretanto, verificou-se a inviabilidade da transmissão em razão da baixa velocidade de transmissão e dos ruídos captados pelo receptor de rádio frequência durante osmovimentos da plataforma. Sendo assim, dois pares de fios trançados foram utilizados fios para conectar o sensor inercial ao sistema de aquisição e processamento. / This work presents the development of a three-degree of freedom autonomous inertial platform for the use in sensors stabilization - for example, stationary and embedded gravimeters. It can also be used to stabilize cameras. The system is composed by the Inertial Measurement Unit, IMU, developed using a micro electromechanical sensor, MEMS - which has an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer in the three axes of orientation - and a microcontroller for data acquisition, data processing and data sending to the control and data acquisition system. To control the platform angles and its orientation, a digital PID controller was implemented using a microcontroller. It receives data from the IMU and provides the control signals using the PWM outputs that drive the motors to control the platform position. In order to supervise the platform operation, a real time data acquisition software was developed in Matlab, where IMU signals, inclination angles and angular velocities can be displayed and recorded. Data transmission via radio frequency between the IMU and the data acquisition and control system was tested in order to evaluate the possibility of not using slip rings or wires between the rotation axis and platform frames. This approach was unsuccessful due to the low speed of data transmission and to the noise that affected the radio frequency receiver during the platform\'s movements. In view of that wire was used to directly connect the inertial sensor to the acquisition and processing system.

The master’s thesis deals with a design of the computational method for the analysis of swimmers training with the use of an inertial measurement unit. The developed algorithm uses quaternion-based Unscented Kalman filter and merges accelerometer and gyroscope measurements. The proposed method enables analysis of velocity, acceleration and inclination of a swimmer. Verification of the method was based on an underwater video camera capturing and a tethered velocity meter.

This thesis deals with multi-axis position sensors, their nature and individual parts and types of these sensors. It is outlined their historical origin and the most used modern types, such as micro-electro-mechanical sensors. Further, the properties of these sensors, error sources and their compensation are discussed. Output data formats are also discussed here, such as Euler angles, their calculation and applications. The selected sensor is implemented in the simulator electronics, and the graphical application demonstrates its functions.