Wireless inertial sensor network for ubiquitous human motion capture

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Motion capture refers to the process of recording movement of one or more persons or objects. It serves as an essential technology to many industries, including entertainment (gaming and filmmaking), movement science (human factors and kinetics), virtual reality (training and simulations), and health (diagnostics and monitoring). In gaming and filmmaking, it is used to record actions of human actors or athletes, and using that information to animate digital character models in 3D computer animation. The main goal of this Strategic Project Grants (SPG) proposal is to develop an innovative wireless, real-time 3D motion tracking system for true ambulatory applications in gaming and filmmaking. A key technological element in this endeavor is the advent of the state-of-the-art MEMS-based tri-axial inertial sensors that can be integrated with emerging short-range wireless technologies to implement a ubiquitous intra- and multi-subject motion tracking system that is capable of on-field measurements. In comparison to traditional motion capture (MoCap) systems such as the 'gold-standard' optical systems, the proposed wireless inertial MoCap ("wiMoCap") system has the potential to be truly 'ambulatory' and unlimited in range, as long as the system's positional accuracy and battery life allows. Therefore, the development of a low-power and drift-free wiMoCap system using novel sensor fusion algorithms, low-power wireless sensor networks (WSN) and distributed data compression is the main focus of this project proposal. Inertial sensor-based motion capture is an emerging and fastest growing MoCap technology. The proposed multidisciplinary project is a collaborative venture between Drs. Park (PI), Lee and Bajic of the Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Electronic Arts ("EA"), one of the largest video game publishers/developers in the world. EA Canada, EA Capture (Burnaby, BC) in particular, will make significant in-kind contributions to the project as the development of the proposed wiMoCap technology is intimately in-line with its business and R&D interests. The proposed technology offers various technical MoCap innovations that can revolutionize the gaming and filming industries within the next five years.