Evaluation of real time motion tracking accuracy of customised IMU sensor for application in a mobile badminton virtual reality training system

Immersion is one of the most important aspects in ensuring the applicability of Virtual Reality systems to training regimes aiming to improve performance. To ensure that this key aspect is met, the registration of motion between the real world and virtual environment must be made as accurate and as low latency as possible. Thus, an in-house developed Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system is developed for use in tracking the movement of the player’s racquet. This IMU tracks 6 DOF motion data and transmits it to the mobile training system for processing. Physically, the custom motion is built into the shape of a racquet grip to give a more natural sensation when swinging the racquet. In addition to that, an adaptive filter framework is also established to cope with different racquet movements automatically, enabling real-time 6 DOF tracking by balancing the jitter and latency. Experiments are performed to compare the efficacy of our approach with other conventional tracking methods such as the using Microsoft Kinect. The results obtained demonstrated noticeable accuracy and lower latency when compared with the aforementioned methods.