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On higher ground: how well can dynamic body acceleration determine speed in variable terrain?
Owen R Bidder1, Lama A Qasem, Rory P Wilson
1Biological Sciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom. 367097@swansea.ac.uk
Plos One
|December 11, 2012
Summary
Estimating animal speed using acceleration metrics is affected by terrain. Vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA) showed the most promise, and a method is proposed to correct for substrate variations in dead-reckoning tracks.
Area of Science:
- Animal movement ecology
- Bio-logging and telemetry
- Biomechanics
Background:
- Animal travel speed is crucial for understanding energetics, behavior, and calculating movement paths via dead-reckoning.
- Dead-reckoning is valuable for tracking in aquatic environments but limited for terrestrial animals due to challenges in fine-scale speed measurement.
- Tri-axial accelerometers show potential for speed estimation but are sensitive to substrate and gradient variations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate four acceleration metrics (ODBA, VDBA, peak frequency, peak amplitude) as proxies for speed in terrestrial animals.
- To assess the impact of different substrates (hard, soft) and surface gradients on the accuracy of these acceleration-based speed estimates.
- To use human locomotion as a model for understanding these relationships.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a general linear model (GLM) to analyze the relationship between acceleration metrics and speed across various surfaces.
- Collected data on human locomotion over hard, soft, and inclined surfaces.
- Compared the predictive power of Overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VDBA), acceleration peak frequency, and acceleration peak amplitude.
Main Results:
- A significant influence of substrate type and surface gradient on the relationship between acceleration metrics and speed was observed.
- Vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VeDBA) demonstrated the highest coefficient of determination when all surface data were pooled.
- All tested metrics exhibited variations in their speed-relationship based on surface conditions.
Conclusions:
- Variations in substrate and gradient introduce errors in speed estimates and subsequent dead-reckoned tracks if based on initial calibrations.
- A method is proposed to ad hoc correct the acceleration-speed relationship using periodic ground-truthed positions (e.g., GPS, VHF).
- This approach enables fine-scale movement data collection for terrestrial animals without requiring substrate or gradient information for the primary tracking period.
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