Synopsis of Current Developments: Measurement Techniques

Abstract

It is the common experience of many sports engineers that the culmination of their research often involves the building, testing and measuring of a final product. After theoretical calculations have been completed, simplified experiments undertaken, and new designs proposed, often the final, and some would say, most important part of a project involves a comparison of the theoretical predictions with what actually happens — the so-called “proof of the pudding”. To this end, the ability to measure changing parameters and to record data accurately and with absolute confidence is essential if any real assessment of a product in use is to be obtained. Modern developments in sports engineering require greater and greater precision in measuring techniques, plus the increasing requirement for new, or improved, methods using state of the art technologies. What wasn’t possible only a few years ago, is now often possible today; and what isn’t possible today may well be possible tomorrow. In terms of obtaining data, the technology of data acquisition and storage moves on at a pace that becomes bewildering to those attempting to keep up. The advances that are being made virtually everyday in terms of speed, accuracy and resolution are effectively taken for granted and go hand in hand with the development of cheap off-the-shelf components which, with a little ingenuity, can often be used by aspiring researchers to produce sophisticated and cost effective solutions to both acquire and output data within their own skill areas.