Optimal Point Density For Accelerometer Calibration And Considerations For Continued Use Of Accelerometer Systems To Locate And Classify Events By Monitoring Structural Vibrations /

Elaine Patterson

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

11th Grade

Presentation Topic

Engineering

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Dr. Juan Caicedo; University of South Carolina

Oral Presentation Award

1st Place

Written Paper Award

4th Place

Abstract

Every event that occurs has a reaction, whether it be a pebble causing ripples in a pond or a bullet distressing a wall. Within a structure, these vibrations caused by a specific event in a medium can be measured with an accelerometer, and just as the vibrations caused by a bullet observably differ from those caused by a pebble, vibrations caused by walking vary from those caused by falling, running or jumping. To the eye, these differences are slight to severe, but when that signal is dissected, it is identifiably unique by its cause and location with extensive applications from home security to behavior analysis for medical care to commercial analysis of foot traffic. For the calibration of such a system, there must be reference events for later events to be compared to because every area is unique in the way it reacts to and carries vibrations. This experiment aimed to determine how furniture rearrangements within a room affect calibration and how calibration locations affect the ability of a system to characterize events. It was hypothesized that furniture placement would significantly affect calibration, and this was supported through comparison of two calibrations with different furniture arrangements. It was also hypothesized that more points would increase the accuracy of a system to identify the location of events, but there was not a major increase in accuracy when more points were used for calibration, r = 0.143; this study suggests two points in an area of 64 ft2 would provide sufficient calibration.

Location

Owens G07

Start Date

4-16-2016 8:30 AM

COinS
 
Apr 16th, 8:30 AM

Optimal Point Density For Accelerometer Calibration And Considerations For Continued Use Of Accelerometer Systems To Locate And Classify Events By Monitoring Structural Vibrations /

Owens G07

Every event that occurs has a reaction, whether it be a pebble causing ripples in a pond or a bullet distressing a wall. Within a structure, these vibrations caused by a specific event in a medium can be measured with an accelerometer, and just as the vibrations caused by a bullet observably differ from those caused by a pebble, vibrations caused by walking vary from those caused by falling, running or jumping. To the eye, these differences are slight to severe, but when that signal is dissected, it is identifiably unique by its cause and location with extensive applications from home security to behavior analysis for medical care to commercial analysis of foot traffic. For the calibration of such a system, there must be reference events for later events to be compared to because every area is unique in the way it reacts to and carries vibrations. This experiment aimed to determine how furniture rearrangements within a room affect calibration and how calibration locations affect the ability of a system to characterize events. It was hypothesized that furniture placement would significantly affect calibration, and this was supported through comparison of two calibrations with different furniture arrangements. It was also hypothesized that more points would increase the accuracy of a system to identify the location of events, but there was not a major increase in accuracy when more points were used for calibration, r = 0.143; this study suggests two points in an area of 64 ft2 would provide sufficient calibration.