A wireless integrated system to evaluate efficiency indexes in real time during cycling

Abstract

In cycling, instrumented devices providing a quantitative assessment of the task execution could facilitate the functional evaluation and the training organization generally carried on by sport trainers. To this purpose, this work deals with the design and the implementation of a system able to evaluate the pedaling efficiency. The system is based on an Instrumented Pedal (IPed) that measures the components of the force (i.e. the perpendicular to the load plane and the tangential to the motion direction) exerted during pedaling and the angle between the pedal and the crank. The force signals are transmitted to a PDA by using a wireless connection and are processed in real time to obtain a performance index. This index is based on the ratio between the amplitude of the force component tangent to the crank (i.e. the component useful to the task) and the amplitude of the overall force vector applied to the pedal. The software packet calculates the performance index and displays it by using both numerical and graphical representations. The performance index can be used by the athletes to monitor the execution of the motor task in order to develop a more efficient pedaling strategy, and also by the trainers to control the training program and the ongoing performance.