Portable measurement system of vertical jump using an Inertial Measurement Unit and pressure sensors

The physical challenges of human development reflected in the sport are increasingly technology-related. This relationship can be demonstrated in several lines; design on sports elements using high technology as well as sports analysis systems that trying to enhance technical indicators in every discipline. The analysis systems facilitate the feedback process to coaches and athletes, based on mathematical models using derived measures, avoiding precision errors of human observations. One meaningful measure for coaches, strength and conditioning professionals, and sport professionals in general is the vertical jump height. In this paper the initial development of a vertical jump height measurement system is presented, that allows to know the flight height of a person in the development of exercise, and his flight time. The system relies on information from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) consisting of an triaxial accelerometer, a triaxial gyroscope and a triaxial magnetometer and two pressure sensors that fuse the jump measured data. The equipment is completely portable and wireless allowing measurements under standard conditions and these can be developed at the same time with the sporting activity. In average were obtained a flight time of 0.4720s and a maximum height of 0.3160m. The results evidence that these systems based on initiatives of low-cost national technology can be at the level of the products used commercially. Finally, it is important to note that the development of these devices can be complemented with specific applications that automatically process data to support the practice of sports.