Miniaturized wireless inertial sensing system

• US 20070073482A1
• Filed: 06/05/2006
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hottinger Bruel & Kjaer Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MicroStrain, Inc. (Spectris PLC)
• Inventors: Churchill, David, Hamel, Michael, Arms, Steven, Townsend, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,781 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/220
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2069/0008 for batting
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/12 Absolute positions, e.g. by using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/13 Relative positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/16 Angular positions
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/40 Acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/53 Force of an impact, e.g. blow or punch
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/62 Time or time measurement used for time reference, time stamp, master time or clock signal
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/803 Motion sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/833 Sensors arranged on the exercise apparatus or sports implement
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 43/00 Balls with special arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0024 for hockey
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/0026 for ice-hockey
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/36 for golf
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 69/38 for tennis A63B61/006, A63B69/0073 and A63B69/0097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 2203/18 Measuring a physical parameter, e.g. speed, distance
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 5/06 with special devices thereon, e.g. steering devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/36 the separate antennas having differently-oriented directivity characteristics

Abstract

A system includes a moveable body and a first device for mounting on the movable body. The first device includes an orientation sensor, an inertial position sensor, a first processor, a frequency agile RF transceiver, and a memory device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a moveable body and a first device for mounting on said movable body, said first device including an orientation sensor, an inertial position sensor, a first processor, a frequency agile RF transceiver, and a memory device.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said orientation sensor provides 3-axis orientation.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said orientation sensor provides 3-axis orientation over 360 degrees.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said orientation sensor includes a plurality of angular rate sensors and a plurality of accelerometers.

5. A system as recited in claim 4, wherein said orientation sensor includes three orthogonal angular rate sensors and three orthogonal accelerometers.

6. A system as recited in claim 5, wherein said orientation sensor further comprises three orthogonal magnetometers.

7. A system as recited in claim 4, wherein said inertial position sensor includes said plurality of accelerometers.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising capability of providing a wired communication port.

9. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein said wired communication port includes at least one from the group consisting of USB, RS-232, RS-485, and CAN bus.

10. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said RF transceiver includes IEEE 802.15.4.

11. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said moveable body includes at least one from the group consisting of a camera, an antenna, a drill, a vehicle, an item of sports equipment, a surveying apparatus, a platform, and a living being.

12. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said item of sports equipment includes at least one from the group consisting of a golf club, a racquet, a bat, a stick, a ball, and a puck.

13. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said living being includes a person and an animal.

14. A system as recited in claim 11, wherein said vehicle includes at least one from the group consisting of an aircraft, a space vehicle, a ground vehicle, and a marine vehicle.

15. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a rechargeable power supply.

16. A system as recited in claim 15, further comprising a non-contacting system for recharging said rechargeable power supply.

17. A system as recited in claim 16, wherein said non-contacting system for recharging said rechargeable power supply includes an energy harvesting system.

18. A system as recited in claim 16, wherein said non-contacting system for recharging said rechargeable power supply includes a coil.

19. A mobile system as recited in claim 18, wherein said circuit comprises a coil and a capacitor.

20. A mobile system as recited in claim 19, wherein said capacitor comprises a tunable capacitor.

21. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a digital filter.

22. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said memory includes coefficients for temperature compensation.

23. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said memory includes coefficients for coning and sculling error compensation.

24. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said memory includes coefficients for sensor orthogonality correction.

25. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a GPS receiver.

26. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said transceiver includes an omni-directional antenna.

27. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said first device includes signal conditioning electronics.

28. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said memory device includes non-volatile memory.

29. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a strain gauge mounted to said moveable body.

30. A system as recited in claim 29, further comprising a plurality of strain gauges.

31. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein said strain gauge is positioned for measuring at least one from the group consisting of bending moment of said moveable body, time of an impact on said moveable body, duration of an impact on said moveable body, location of an impact on said moveable body, force of an impact on said moveable body, impulse of an impact on said moveable body, and energy of an impact on said moveable body.

32. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein said processor is capable of combining information from said strain gauge with information from said orientation sensor to determine orientation at time of impact.

33. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein said processor is capable of combining information from said strain gauge with information from said inertial position sensor to determine position at time of impact.

34. A system as recited in claim 29, wherein said strain gauge includes at least one from the group consisting of a static strain gauge and a dynamic strain gauge.

35. A system as recited in claim 34, wherein said dynamic strain gauge includes a piezoelectric element.

36. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein said orientation sensor includes three orthogonal accelerometers, three orthogonal magnetometers, and three orthogonal rate gyroscopes, wherein said inertial position sensor includes said three orthogonal accelerometers, and further comprising a strain gauge.

37. A device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a housing, wherein said orientation sensor, said inertial position sensor, said first processor, said frequency agile RF transceiver, and said memory device are all within said housing.

38. A device as recited in claim 1, further comprising a feedback mechanism.

39. A device as recited in claim 38, wherein said feedback mechanism includes at least one from the group consisting of a sound producing device and a display.

40. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a base station for receiving said RF transmitted information.

41. The system as recited in claim 40, wherein said base station comprises at least one from the group consisting of a receiver and a second transceiver.

42. The system as recited in claim 40, further comprising a network of said first devices, each said first device capable of transmitting information to said base station.

43. The system as recited in claim 42, wherein each of said first device further comprises an address.

44. The system as recited in claim 43, wherein each said first device is capable of transmitting and recognizing said address.

45. A device as recited in claim 40, wherein said base station further comprises a digital filter.

46. The system as recited in claim 40, wherein said base station is capable of transmitting a signal to said first device directing said first device to do at least one from the group consisting of enter sleep mode, wake up, start logging data, stop logging data, and transmit data.

47. A system, comprising a moveable body, a first device, a second device, and a display, said first device for mounting on said movable body, said first device including an orientation sensor, an inertial position sensor, a first processor, and a transmitter, said transmitter for transmitting a first signal, wherein said second device is positioned separate from said moveable body, said second device including a second processor, said second processor connected for calculating a second linear position of said moveable body derived from said first signal, said display in communication with at least one from the group consisting of said first device and said second device for displaying orientation of said moveable body and said second linear position as updated with said inertial position.

48. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said first signal includes a radio signal.

49. A system as recited in claim 48, wherein said first signal includes an ultra wide band radio signal.

50. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said first signal includes orientation information from said orientation sensor.

51. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said first signal includes at least one from the group including orientation information from said orientation sensor, timing information, and first device address information.

52. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said second device includes connection to a plurality of antennas.

53. A system as recited in claim 52, wherein said second processor determines linear components of position from intensity of said first signal at each of said antennas of said plurality of antennas.

54. A system as recited in claim 52, wherein said plurality of antennas include sectorized array antennas.

55. A system as recited in claim 54, wherein said plurality of antennas include a plurality of said sectorized array antennas.

56. A system as recited in claim 55, wherein said plurality of sectorized array antennas are spatially separated from one another.

57. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said second device includes a memory connected for storing location of said first device and orientation of said first device.

58. A system as recited in claim 47, further comprising a strain gauge mounted to said moveable body.

59. A system as recited in claim 58, further comprising a plurality of said strain gauges mounted to said moveable body.

60. A system as recited in claim 58, wherein said strain gauge is positioned for measuring at least one from the group consisting of bending moment of said moveable body, time of an impact on said moveable body, duration of an impact on said moveable body, location of an impact on said moveable body, force of an impact on said moveable body, impulse of an impact on said moveable body, and energy of an impact on said moveable body.

61. A system as recited in claim 58, wherein at least one from the group consisting of said first device and said second device is capable of combining information from said strain gauge with information from said orientation sensor to determine orientation at time of impact.

62. A system as recited in claim 58, wherein at least one from the group consisting of said first device and said second device is capable of combining information from said strain gauge with information from at least one from the group consisting of said inertial position sensor and said second position sensor to determine position at time of impact.

63. A system as recited in claim 58, wherein said strain gauge includes at least one from the group consisting of a static strain gauge and a dynamic strain gauge.

64. A system as recited in claim 63, wherein said static strain gauge includes a piezoresistive element.

65. A system as recited in claim 63, wherein said dynamic strain gauge includes a piezoelectric element.

66. A system as recited in claim 47, further comprising a video camera, wherein said second processor is connected for storing and displaying an image of said moveable body derived from said video camera, location of said moveable body, and orientation of said moveable body.

67. A system as recited in claim 66, wherein said second processor is further connected for storing and displaying video data showing an impact on said moveable body.

68. A system as recited in claim 66, further comprising video capture software for capturing said video.

69. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said first device includes a first receiver, wherein said second device further comprises a second transmitter for transmitting at least one from the group consisting of instructions and data derived from said plurality of antennas to said first device.

70. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said display is positioned separate from said moveable body.

71. A system as recited in claim 47, wherein said display is positioned on said moveable body.

72. A system as recited in claim 71, wherein said display includes a heads up display set.

73. A system as recited in claim 47, further comprising a plurality of said first devices mounted on said moveable body, wherein said plurality of first devices are connected in a network, wherein each said first device of said plurality of said first devices has an address.

74. A system as recited in claim 73, further comprising a plurality of said moveable bodies and a plurality of said networks.

75. A method of operating a system, comprising:

a. providing a moveable body

b. mounting a first device on said movable body, said first device including an orientation sensor, an inertial position sensor, a first processor, a frequency agile RF transmitter, and a memory device;

c. calculating orientation in said first processor using data from said orientation sensor;

d. calculating dynamic position in said first processor from said orientation and from data from said inertial position sensor;

e. logging at least one from the group consisting of orientation and dynamic position data in said memory device; and

f. transmitting at least one from the group consisting of orientation data and dynamic position data to a device external to said moveable body.