Developing a system to determine impact force in tennis

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this project was to develop a system that could estimate impact force in tennis forehand stroke. Such estimation is critical feedback during training. Method: A tennis racket was used for this study. A strain gauge was embedded into the body of the racket. Changes in strain measurement (analogue signal) was converted to digital signal using the AD converter and was synced with the motion capture system. Calibration of the strain gauge was conducted by hanging fixed weights of equal increment on the racket and expressed as a relation of fixed weight mass and strain data (captured on motion capture) using linear regression equation. The equations summation of forces was used to determine the impact force. Results and Discussions: The peak impact resultant force estimates were similar to those reported in the literature. Despite the sampling frequency of 200Hz, data estimated from this study may give a representation of peak resultant impact force as the data were not filtered. Conclusion: The system developed in this study may be suitable to estimate peak resultant impact forces. Coaches could simply use the data gathered and in future, synchronise with an app on mobile devices to establish impact force directly and instantaneously with acceptable accuracy.