Smart Racket – Instrumented Racket as Real-time Feedback Device for Table Tennis

Abstract

In modern sports, often digitalized sensor systems are applied to monitor amateur and professional athletes. Since latest advances in miniaturization of electronic components and data analysis techniques opened new possibilities in sensor design, tiny measurement devices can easily be integrated into any kind of sports equipment or body-worn accessories. These Wearables have become essential as important data source for state-of-the-art movement analysis and performance indication to support and assess athletes during training and competition. This thesis presents methods and approaches to enable the analysis of wearable data in the field of table tennis. On the one hand, this sport is characterized by a wide range of various playing styles and technical opportunities, making it a rewarding area of research. On the other hand, digitalization in table tennis is still slowly progressing. In order to benefit from the advantages of Wearables in table tennis, this thesis introduces a training and support system comprising of an instrumented racket, multiple analysis algorithms and a feedback application running on a mobile device.