Design of a Low-Power BLE5-Based Wearable Device for Tracking Movements of Football Players

Abstract

This paper presents a prototype wearable device that tracks movements of football players during the match time. To analyze the performance of each player, the proposed device uses the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) assisted by the inertial measurement unit (IMU). Several algorithms are realized on the embedded processor to estimate the amount of speed, total distance covered, and inertia. In addition, the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol is used to transfer acquired data from the pitch while reducing the overall power consumption. Experimental results show that the BLE-based wearable device successfully demonstrates the real-time tracking operation, achieving the low-power solution compared to the existing devices.