On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity

Barometers are among the oldest engineered sensors. Historically, they have been primarily used either as environmental sensors to measure the atmospheric pressure for weather forecasts or as altimeters for aircrafts. With the advent of microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based barometers and their...

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Main Authors: Ajaykumar Manivannan, Wei Chien Benny Chin, Alain Barrat, Roland Bouffanais
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/23/6786
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author Ajaykumar Manivannan
Wei Chien Benny Chin
Alain Barrat
Roland Bouffanais
author_facet Ajaykumar Manivannan
Wei Chien Benny Chin
Alain Barrat
Roland Bouffanais
author_sort Ajaykumar Manivannan
collection DOAJ
description Barometers are among the oldest engineered sensors. Historically, they have been primarily used either as environmental sensors to measure the atmospheric pressure for weather forecasts or as altimeters for aircrafts. With the advent of microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based barometers and their systematic embedding in smartphones and wearable devices, a vast breadth of new applications for the use of barometers has emerged. For instance, it is now possible to use barometers in conjunction with other sensors to track and identify a wide range of human activity classes. However, the effectiveness of barometers in the growing field of human activity recognition critically hinges on our understanding of the numerous factors affecting the atmospheric pressure, as well as on the properties of the sensor itself—sensitivity, accuracy, variability, etc. This review article thoroughly details all these factors and presents a comprehensive report of the numerous studies dealing with one or more of these factors in the particular framework of human activity tracking and recognition. In addition, we specifically collected some experimental data to illustrate the effects of these factors, which we observed to be in good agreement with the findings in the literature. We conclude this review with some suggestions on some possible future uses of barometric sensors for the specific purpose of tracking human activities.
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spelling doaj.art-94b6adbd11ed4787858e9a454740ae662023-11-20T22:38:31ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202020-11-012023678610.3390/s20236786On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human ActivityAjaykumar Manivannan0Wei Chien Benny Chin1Alain Barrat2Roland Bouffanais3Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, SingaporeEngineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, SingaporeCNRS, CPT, Aix Marseille University, Université de Toulon, 13009 Marseille, FranceEngineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, SingaporeBarometers are among the oldest engineered sensors. Historically, they have been primarily used either as environmental sensors to measure the atmospheric pressure for weather forecasts or as altimeters for aircrafts. With the advent of microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based barometers and their systematic embedding in smartphones and wearable devices, a vast breadth of new applications for the use of barometers has emerged. For instance, it is now possible to use barometers in conjunction with other sensors to track and identify a wide range of human activity classes. However, the effectiveness of barometers in the growing field of human activity recognition critically hinges on our understanding of the numerous factors affecting the atmospheric pressure, as well as on the properties of the sensor itself—sensitivity, accuracy, variability, etc. This review article thoroughly details all these factors and presents a comprehensive report of the numerous studies dealing with one or more of these factors in the particular framework of human activity tracking and recognition. In addition, we specifically collected some experimental data to illustrate the effects of these factors, which we observed to be in good agreement with the findings in the literature. We conclude this review with some suggestions on some possible future uses of barometric sensors for the specific purpose of tracking human activities.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/23/6786barometerbarometric pressurehuman activity recognition (HAR)vertical displacement activity (VDA)
spellingShingle Ajaykumar Manivannan
Wei Chien Benny Chin
Alain Barrat
Roland Bouffanais
On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
Sensors
barometer
barometric pressure
human activity recognition (HAR)
vertical displacement activity (VDA)
title On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
title_full On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
title_fullStr On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
title_full_unstemmed On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
title_short On the Challenges and Potential of Using Barometric Sensors to Track Human Activity
title_sort on the challenges and potential of using barometric sensors to track human activity
topic barometer
barometric pressure
human activity recognition (HAR)
vertical displacement activity (VDA)
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/23/6786
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