Force measurement system having inertial compensation

A force measurement system having inertial compensation, the force measurement system comprising:

• a force measurement assembly configured to receive a subject, the force measurement assembly including:
• a surface for receiving at least one portion of the body of the subject;
• at least one force transducer, the at least one force transducer configured to sense a measured quantity and output a signal that is representative of forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject;
• at least one accelerometer configured to measure the acceleration of the force measurement assembly;
• and
• a data processing device operatively coupled to the at least one force transducer and the at least one accelerometer of the force measurement assembly, the data processing device being configured to execute a calibration procedure that is loaded thereon from a computer-readable medium, and to determine inertial parameters of the force measurement assembly, which include the mass of the force measurement assembly, by utilizing the measured acceleration of the force measurement assembly while a plurality of linear and/or rotational motion profiles are applied to the force measurement assembly by a motion generating source external thereto;
• wherein the data processing device is configured to receive the signal that is representative of the forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject, and to convert the signal into output forces and/or moments, the data processing device further being configured to compute the mass of the force measurement assembly as a function of measured forces determined using the at least one force transducer and the acceleration measured by the at least one accelerometer;
• and
• wherein the data processing device is further configured to utilize the determined inertial parameters of the force measurement assembly, which include the mass of the force measurement assembly, and the acceleration measured by the at least one accelerometer for correcting the output forces and/or moments, the data processing device being configured to use the acceleration measured by the at least one accelerometer to compute inertial forces, and to determine corrected externally applied forces by computing the mathematical difference between the computed inertial forces and the output forces so as to improve the measurement accuracy of the forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject.

A force measurement system having inertial compensation, the force measurement system comprising:

• a force measurement assembly configured to receive a subject, the force measurement assembly including:
• a surface for receiving at least one portion of the body of the subject;
• at least one force transducer, the at least one force transducer configured to sense a measured quantity and output a signal that is representative of forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject;
• at least one linear accelerometer configured to measure a linear acceleration of the force measurement assembly;
• a motion base, which includes a plurality of actuators, operatively coupled to the force measurement assembly, the motion base configured to both displace and rotate the force measurement assembly in multiple dimensions;
• and
• a data acquisition and processing device operatively coupled to the force measurement assembly, the data acquisition and processing device configured to receive the signal that is representative of the forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject and to convert the signal into output forces and/or moments, the data acquisition and processing device being configured to receive the linear acceleration measured by the at least one linear accelerometer, and the data acquisition and processing device further being configured to use the linear acceleration measured by the at least one linear accelerometer to compute inertial forces, and to determine corrected externally applied forces by computing the mathematical difference between the computed inertial forces and the output forces so as to improve the measurement accuracy of the forces and/or moments being applied to the surface of the force measurement assembly by the subject;
• wherein the data acquisition and processing device executes a calibration procedure, which is loaded thereon from a computer-readable medium, and determines inertial parameters of the force measurement assembly through the utilization of linear and/or rotational motion profiles as applied to the force measurement assembly by the motion base;
• and wherein the inertial parameters of the force measurement assembly include the mass of the force measurement assembly, the mass of the force measurement assembly being computed as a function of measured forces determined using the at least one force transducer and the acceleration measured by the at least one linear accelerometer.