Wearable device for swim assessment: a new ecologic approach for communication and analysis

This paper describes a wearable system for the assessment of swim performance focusing on the description of the system and especially on the novel method for data transmission in water, and the algorithm used for extracting some parameters for the qualitative assessment of the performance. We placed a 3-axes Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) on the athlete’s back in a specific swimsuit, which also allows for recording 1-lead ECG. The system and the algorithm have been tested on 13 trials with 10 subjects comparing the results with data extracted from video recording. The system demonstrated able and reliable to measure time and kinematic parameters of swimming.