Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. A Magnet-Based Timing System to Detect Gate Crossings in Alpine Ski Racing
 
research article

A Magnet-Based Timing System to Detect Gate Crossings in Alpine Ski Racing

Fasel, Benedikt
•
Spörri, Jörg
•
Kröll, Josef
Show more
February 22, 2019
Sensors

In alpine skiing, intermediate times are usually measured with photocells. However, for practical reasons, the number of intermediate cells is limited to three⁻four, making a detailed timing analysis difficult. In this paper, we propose and validate a magnet-based timing system allowing for the measurement of intermediate times at each gate. Specially designed magnets were placed at each gate and the athletes wore small magnetometers on their lower back to measure the instantaneous magnetic field. The athlete's gate crossings caused peaks in the measured signal which could then be related to the precise instants of gate crossings. The system was validated against photocells placed at four gates of a slalom skiing course. Eight athletes skied the course twice and one run per athlete was included in the validation study. The 95% error intervals for gate-to-gate timing and section times were below 0.025 s. Each athlete's gate-to-gate times were compared to the group's average gate-to-gate times, revealing small performance differences that would otherwise be difficult to measure with a traditional photocell-based system. The system could be used to identify the effect of tactical choices and athlete specific skiing skills on performance and could allow a more efficient and athlete-specific performance analysis and feedback.

  • Files
  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.3390/s19040940
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85062432611

PubMed ID

30813371

Author(s)
Fasel, Benedikt
Spörri, Jörg
Kröll, Josef
Müller, Erich
Aminian, Kamiar  
Date Issued

2019-02-22

Published in
Sensors
Volume

19

Issue

4

Start page

940

Note

This article belongs to the Special Issue "Wearable Sensors for Gait and Motion Analysis".

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMAM  
FunderGrant Number

Swiss federal funding

Lausanne Orthopaedic Research Foundation

VM10052

Swiss Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO), grant 15-01

Available on Infoscience
May 5, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/156273
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés