------ JUMP SENSOR ------ Mario Wang
A DIY jump sensor that measures the height of every single jump with a small margin of error.
As a volleyball player, I can say that athletes who jump a lot are interested in knowing how high
they jump and how many jumps they do in a session.
HOW IT WORKS
The sensor is based on a GY-6500 (MPU6500) accelerometer. In a flat, static position it reads
about 1 g on the Z axis, which corresponds to 9.81 m/s^2. During the flight phase the reading
drops close to 0, because the accelerometer only measures g while the sensor is in contact with
the ground: in free fall there is no contact force to measure. On landing, the impact generates
a peak above 2 g.
I mentioned the Z axis for simplicity, but the program actually uses the magnitude
M = sqrt(gX^2 + gY^2 + gZ^2). This makes the measurement independent of the sensor orientation,
which matters because the device can be tilted while worn.
FORMULA
h = (1/8) * g * t^2, derived from the equations of motion v = v0 - g*t and s = s0 + v0*t - (1/2)*g*t^2,
where t is the total flight time between take-off and landing.
HARDWARE
ESP32 (chosen over Arduino for its smaller size), GY-6500 accelerometer, SSD1306 OLED display,
breadboard and MB-V2 power supply module.
VALIDATION
Tested against 240 fps slow-motion video: 0.56 s (video) vs 0.53 s (sensor), and
0.48 s (video) vs 0.47 s (sensor). Error margin: 2-5%.
KNOWN LIMITATION
The height cannot be measured by simply throwing the device in the air: during the flight the
sensor may rotate, which creates false landing triggers.
I'm 17, I play volleyball in an elite club and I'm passionate about tech.
Suggestions are welcome - @sono_marione







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