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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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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Series: | Sensors |
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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. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:30:30Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-94b6adbd11ed4787858e9a454740ae66 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1424-8220 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:30:30Z |
publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Sensors |
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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