E-Kayak: A wireless system for real time performance analysis in Flatwater Kayaking

Purpose: On-water measurement systems are required to properly evaluate the effectiveness of the paddling technique by professional kayak athletes. These systems have to be able to measure kinematic (speed, acceleration, roll and pitch of the boat) as well as dynamic parameters (stroke frequency, force acting on paddle and foot brace) by using inertial and force sensors properly synchronized. Methods: We present a wireless multi-node real time data logger customized for flatwater sprint kayaks. The system presents a modular hardware architecture, based on a central unit and wireless sensor nodes, which have been designed to be scaled for use on K1, K2 and K4 boats. It consists of a high frequency (20Hz) GPS, an Inertial Motion Unit (IMU) with nine DOF and two force channels, respectively placed on the paddle and footrest, for each of the athletes belonging the crew. Data from all the channels are synchronously acquired, processed by a microprocessor unit, wirelessly sent via a Wi-Fi link to client terminals (PC, tablet or smartphone) and also stored in a local memory for future offline analyses. Results: Some results about training sessions of K1 and K2 crews will be presented with the aim of highlighting the features of the system together with its capabilities to obtain specific parameters related to the effectiveness of the paddling technique. Conclusion: Athletes and coach can visualise the training data on a suited web page. It provides real time feedback on some of the main parameters (time, speed, stroke frequency, force symmetry) and, at the end of the training session. Moreover, these can be downloaded to a PC for further deep analysis.