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Assessing the Accuracy of Vision-Based Accelerometry

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Abstract

Video-based motion measurement enables convenient tracking of multiple points in a plane with a single sensor: a CCD video camera. This paper presents a method to easily assess the accuracy of accelerations computed from the tracking of positions measured via video and quantifies these errors for a consumer-grade camera. A signal with time-dependent frequency and amplitude is applied to a shake table, and the motion of LED targets are tracked. The tracked target positions are filtered and twice-differentiated to compute accelerations. These vision-based acceleration measurements are time-synchronized with conventional accelerometer measurements. The vision-based and conventional acceleration measurements are directly compared, and through a series of experiments, an extensive investigation of the acceleration measurement sensitivity to signal frequency and amplitude is carried out.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Duke University, 121 Hudson Hall, Box 90287, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    P. Scott Harvey Jr. & H.P. Gavin

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  1. P. Scott Harvey Jr.
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  2. H.P. Gavin
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Correspondence to P. Scott Harvey Jr..

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Scott Harvey, P., Gavin, H. Assessing the Accuracy of Vision-Based Accelerometry. Exp Mech 54, 273–277 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-013-9783-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-013-9783-9

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