Triaxial Angular Rate Sensor Research Articles

Whitewater Helmet STAR: Evaluation of the Biomechanical Performance and Risk of Head Injury for Whitewater Helmets.

More than six million people participate in whitewater kayaking and rafting in the United States each year. Unfortunately, with these six million whitewater participants come 50 deaths annually, making it one of the highest fatality rates of all sports. As the popularity in whitewater activities grows, the number of injuries, including concussions, also increases. The objective of this study was to create a new rating system for whitewater helmets by evaluating the biomechanical performance and risk of head injury of whitewater helmets using the Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk (STAR) system. All watersport helmets that passed the EN: 1385: 2012 standard and that were clearly marketed for whitewater use were selected for this study. Two samples of each helmet model were tested on a custom pendulum impactor under conditions known to be associated with the highest risk of head injury and death. A 50th percentile male NOCSAE headform instrumented with three linear accelerometers and a triaxial angular rate sensor coupled with a Hybrid III 50th percentile neck were used for data collection. A total of 126 tests were performed using six different configurations. These included impacts to the front, side, and rear using two speeds of 3.1 and 4.9m/s that modeled whitewater river flow rates. Each helmet's STAR score was calculated using the combination of exposure and injury risk that was determined from the linear and rotational head accelerations. The resulting head impact accelerations predicted a very high risk of concussion for all impact locations at the 4.9m/s speed. The STAR score varied between helmets indicating that some helmets provide better protection than others. Overall, these results show a clear need for improvement in whitewater helmets, and the methodologies developed in this research project should provide manufacturers a design tool for improving these products.

Rollover and Near-Rollover Kinematics During Evasive Steer Maneuvers

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Vehicle rollovers are complex events that can be difficult to reconstruct. The goal of this study was to explore whether different vehicle trip models could identify when during the trip phase a vehicle possesses the dynamic conditions needed to rollover. We used three sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with either absent or disabled electronic stability control to conduct six tests involving a steer-induced control loss on a large flat concrete surface. Vehicle kinematics were measured using a GPS speed sensor, tri-axial accelerometers, tri-axial angular rate sensors, and both drone- and land-based video cameras. Four vehicle trip metrics were derived and evaluated using the vehicle dynamics between steer onset and the end of the trip phase. During three tests, one or more of the vehicle’s tires lifted off the ground but the vehicle did not roll. In the other three tests, the vehicle rolled. All four metrics showed differences between the non-rollover and rollover tests, with one metric indicating that the dynamic conditions for rollover were present between 0.36 s and 0.78 s before the end of the trip phase. With further refinement, testing and validation over a wider range of vehicles and conditions, these metrics could be useful in some rollover reconstructions for identifying when sufficient dynamic conditions are present during the trip phase for rollover to occur.</div></div>

Forces and moments in cervical spinal column segments in frontal impacts using finite element modeling and human cadaver tests

Experiments have been conducted using isolated tissues of the spine such as ligaments, functional units, and subaxial cervical spine columns. Forces and or moments under external loading can be obtained at the ends of these isolated/segmented preparations; however, these models require fixations at the end(s). To understand the response of the entire cervical spine without the artificial boundary/end conditions, it is necessary to use the whole body human cadaver in the experimental model. This model can be used to obtain the overall kinematics of the head and neck. The forces and moments at each vertebral level of the cervical column segments cannot be directly obtained using the kinematic and mass property data. The objective of this study was to determine such local loads under simulated frontal impact loading using a validated head-neck finite element model and experiments from whole body human cadaver tests, at velocities ranging from 3.9 to 16 m/s. The specimens were prepared with a nine linear accelerometer package on the head, and a triaxial accelerometer with a triaxial angular rate sensor on T1, and a set of three non-collinear retroreflective targets were secured to the T1 using the accelerometer mount. A similar array of targets was attached to the skull. Head accelerations were computed at the center of gravity of the head using specimen-specific physical properties. Upper and lower neck forces were computed using center of gravity acceleration data. This dataset was used to verify a previously validated finite element model of the head-neck model by inputting the mean T1 accelerations at different velocities. The model was parametrically exercised from 4 to 16 m/s in increments of 3 m/s to determine the forces and moments in the local anatomical system at all spinal levels. Results indicated that, with increasing velocities, the axial loading was found to be level-invariant, while the shear force and moment responses depended on the level. The nonuniform developments of the segmental forces and moments across different spinal levels suggest a shift in instantaneous axis of rotations between the across different spinal levels. Such differential changes between contiguous levels may lead to local spinal instability, resulting in long-term effects such as accelerated degeneration and spondylosis. The study underscored the need to conduct additional research to include effects of posture and geometrical variations that exist between males and females for a more comprehensive understanding of the local load-sharing in frontal impacts.

Orientation Estimation by Means of Extended Kalman Filter, Quaternions, and Charts

An orientation estimation algorithm is presented. This algorithm is based on the Extended Kalman Filter, and uses quaternions as the orientation descriptor. For the filter update, we use measurements from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). The IMU consists in a triaxial angular rate sensor, and an also triaxial accelerometer. Quaternions describing orientations live in the unit sphere of R4. Knowing that this space is a manifold, we can apply some basic concepts regarding these mathematical objects, and an algorithm that reminds the also called “Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter” arises in a natural way. The algorithm is tested in a simulated experiment, and in a real one.

A Quaternion-Based Unscented Kalman Filter for Robust Optical/Inertial Motion Tracking in Computer-Assisted Surgery

This paper presents a sensor fusion algorithm based on an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) designed for robust estimation of position and orientation of a freely moving target in surgical applications. The UKF is not subject to the nontrivial disadvantages of the more popular extended Kalman filter that can affect the accuracy or even lead to divergence of the algorithm. Orientation is represented by quaternion, which avoids singularities and is computationally more effective. The fusion algorithm has been designed to incorporate an optical tracking system and an inertial sensor unit containing triaxial angular rate sensors and accelerometers. The proposed tracking system does not suffer from environmental distortion, is robust to brief line-of-sight losses and has a high sampling rate. Experimental results validate the filter design, and show the feasibility of using optical/inertial sensor fusion for robust motion tracking meeting the requirements of surgical computer-assisted procedures.

Heterogeneous Data Fusion Algorithm for Pedestrian Navigation via Foot-Mounted Inertial Measurement Unit and Complementary Filter

This paper proposes a foot-mounted zero velocity update (ZVU) aided inertial measurement unit (IMU) filtering algorithm for pedestrian tracking in indoor environment. The algorithm outputs are the foot kinematic parameters that include foot orientation, position, velocity, acceleration, and gait phase. The foot motion filtering algorithm incorporates methods for orientation estimation, gait detection, and position estimation. A novel complementary filter is introduced to better preprocess the sensor data from a foot-mounted IMU containing triaxial angular rate sensors, accelerometers, and magnetometers and to estimate the foot orientation without resorting to global positioning system data. A gait detection is accomplished using a simple states detector that transitions between states based on acceleration and angular rate measurements. Once foot orientation is computed, position estimates are obtained using integrating acceleration and velocity data, which has been corrected at step stance phase for drift using an implemented ZVU algorithm, leading to a position accuracy improvement. We show our findings experimentally by using of a commercial IMU during regular human walking trials in a typical public building. Experiment results show that the positioning approach achieves approximately a position accuracy around 0.4% and improves the performance regarding recent works of literature.

Complementary Observer for Body Segments Motion Capturing by Inertial and Magnetic Sensors

This paper presents a viable quaternion-based complementary observer (CO) that is designed for rigid body attitude estimation. We claim that this approach is an alternative one to overcome the limitations of the extended Kalman filter. The CO processes data from a small inertial/magnetic sensor module containing triaxial angular rate sensors, accelerometers, and magnetometers, without resorting to GPS data. The proposed algorithm incorporates a motion kinematic model and adopts a two-layer filter architecture. In the latter, the Levenberg Marquardt algorithm preprocesses acceleration and local magnetic field measurements, to produce what will be called the system's output. The system's output together with the angular rate measurements will become measurement signals for the CO. In this way, the overall CO design is greatly simplified. The efficiency of the CO is experimentally investigated through an industrial robot and a commercial IMU during human segment motion exercises. These results are promising for human motion applications, in particular future ambulatory monitoring.

Design, Implementation, and Experimental Results of a Quaternion-Based Kalman Filter for Human Body Motion Tracking

Real-time tracking of human body motion is an important technology in synthetic environments, robotics, and other human-computer interaction applications. This paper presents an extended Kalman filter designed for real-time estimation of the orientation of human limb segments. The filter processes data from small inertial/magnetic sensor modules containing triaxial angular rate sensors, accelerometers, and magnetometers. The filter represents rotation using quaternions rather than Euler angles or axis/angle pairs. Preprocessing of the acceleration and magnetometer measurements using the Quest algorithm produces a computed quaternion input for the filter. This preprocessing reduces the dimension of the state vector and makes the measurement equations linear. Real-time implementation and testing results of the quaternion-based Kalman filter are presented. Experimental results validate the filter design, and show the feasibility of using inertial/magnetic sensor modules for real-time human body motion tracking

Novel concept of a single-mass adaptively controlled triaxial angular rate sensor

This paper presents a novel concept for an adaptively controlled triaxial angular rate (AR) sensor device that is able to detect rotation in three orthogonal axes, using a single vibrating mass. Pedestrian navigation is presented as an example demonstrating the suitability of the proposed device to the requirements of emerging applications. The adaptive controller performs various functions. It updates estimates of all stiffness error, damping and input rotation parameters in real time, removing the need for any offline calibration stages. The parameter estimates are used in feedforward control to cancel out their otherwise erroneous effects, including zero-rate output. The controller also drives the mass along a controlled oscillation trajectory, removing the need for additional drive control. Finally, the output of the device is simply an estimate of input rotation, removing the need for additional demodulation normally used for vibratory AR sensors. To enable all unknown parameter estimates to converge to their true values, the necessary model trajectory is shown to be a three-dimensional Lissajous pattern. A modified trajectory algorithm is presented that aims to reduce errors due to discretization of the continuous time system. Simulation results are presented to verify the operation of the adaptive controller. A finite-element modal analysis of a preliminary structural design is presented. It shows a micro electro mechanical systems realizable design having modal shapes and frequencies suitable for implementing the presented adaptive controller

Measuring the Acceleration of a Rigid Body

Two methods to measure the six-degree-of-freedom acceleration of a point on a rigid body are presented. The first, referred to as the periphery scheme, makes use of three clusters of accelerometers mounted orthogonal to each other and coincident with the axes of the point. One of the clusters consists of the three accelerometers attached to a cube-shaped triaxial angular rate sensor (ARS). The second method, called the compact cube scheme, uses a single 3-accelerometer/ARS cluster that may be mounted anywhere on the rigid body. During impact tests with an instrumented rigid body, both methods produced measurements that were highly correlated near the time of peak acceleration. Whereas the compact cube scheme was more economical and easier to implement, the periphery scheme produced results that were less disrupted by instrument signal errors and noisy environments.

Angular Rate Sensor Joint Kinematics Applications

High speed rotary motion of complex joints were quantified with triaxial angular rate sensors. Angular rate sensors were mounted to rigid links on either side of a joint to measure angular velocities about three orthogonal sensor axes. After collecting the data, the angular velocity vector of each sensor was transformed to local link axes and integrated to obtain the incremental change in angular position for each time step. Using the angular position time histories, a transformation matrix between the reference frame of each link was calculated. Incremental Eulerian rotations from the transformation matrix were calculated using an axis system defined for the joint. Summation of the incremental Eulerian rotations produced the angular position of the joint in terms of the standard axes. This procedure is illustrated by applying it to joint motion of the ankle, the spine, and the neck of crash dummies during impact tests. The methodology exhibited an accuracy of less than 5% error, improved flexibility over photographic techniques, and the ability to examine 3-dimensional motion.

Angular Rate Sensor Joint Kinematics Applications

High speed rotary motion of complex joints were quantified with triaxial angular rate sensors. Angular rate sensors were mounted to rigid links on either side of a joint to measure angular velocities about three orthogonal sensor axes. After collecting the data, the angular velocity vector of each sensor was transformed to local link axes and integrated to obtain the incremental change in angular position for each time step. Using the angular position time histories, a transformation matrix between the reference frame of each link was calculated. Incremental Eulerian rotations from the transformation matrix were calculated using an axis system defined for the joint. Summation of the incremental Eulerian rotations produced the angular position of the joint in terms of the standard axes. This procedure is illustrated by applying it to joint motion of the ankle, the spine, and the neck of crash dummies during impact tests. The methodology exhibited an accuracy of less than 5% error, improved flexibility over photographic techniques, and the ability to examine 3-dimensional motion.