Browsing by Author "Iyer, Parth"

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    Development of a Real-time Performance Measurement System for Sprint Starts
    (2017) Iyer, Parth; Brennan, Robert; Goldsmith, Peter; Ronsky, Janet Lenore; Herzog, Walter
    This thesis is an expansion of a Capstone Project where a set of portable sprint starting blocks that can be used for training was developed. For this thesis, two piezo-electric sensors were implemented in the blocks that transmitted data from each of the sprinter’s feet to a micro-controller. The sensors, after a series of impact hammer tests, offered a cost-efficient means of collecting valuable telemetric data during a sprint start, and crucially, were non-intrusive. Majority of the athletes demonstrated a consistent three-peak-force pattern in the data collected which was statistically correlated to qualitative performance scores given by a coach evaluating the start. The correlation helped develop a fuzzy method that estimated a performance score for sprint starts and detected false starts. The need to validate this method also helped produce a definitive coach’s sprint start evaluation checklist from the National Coaching Certification Program.