Global Positioning System and Sport-Specific Testing

Abstract

Most physiological testing of athletes is performed in well-controlled situations in the laboratory. Multiple factors that are hard to control for have limited the use of sport-specific field testing. Recently, the technique of the differential global positioning system (dGPS) has been put forward as a way to monitor the position and speed of an athlete during outdoor activities with acceptable precision, thus controlling the two most important factors of performance in endurance athletics, i.e. inclination and speed. A detailed analysis of performance has been shown to be possible in combination with metabolic gas measurements. The combination of accelerometry and dGPS has also been shown to improve physiological field testing. The technique of dGPS could probably also be combined with other bio-measurements (e.g. electromyography and cycling cadence and power) and may enable other studies of exercise physiology in the field, otherwise restricted to the laboratory environment. This technique may also be of use in general exercise physiology where monitoring of patients with, for example, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, could be of interest for the future.

Physical Game Demands in Elite Rugby Union: A Global Positioning System Analysis and Possible Implications for Rehabilitation

“…The operation of GPS devices in sport and Rugby Union has previously been described. 10,20 A higher sampling rate improves the reliability and validity of GPS devices. 18 Therefore, data were sampled at a rate of 5 Hz, with real-time data wirelessly communicated to a pitchside laptop computer and the manufacturer's software (Team AMS, GPSports, Version 1.2) was later used to conduct the analyses.…”

Unpacking the Black Box: Applications and Considerations for Using GPS Devices in Sport

“…GPS satellites orbit the Earth and send precise time information (from an atomic clock) to the GPS receivers (at the speed of light) to determine the duration of signal transit. 1 A minimum of four satellites are required to determine the position of the GPS receiver trigonometrically. Commercial GPS systems are now commonly used in individual-and team-sports at all levels.…”

GNSS for sports ? sailing and rowing perspectives

“…Much of the equipment is either too heavy, expensive or obtrusive and multiple factors which are difficult to control have limited the use of sport-specific field testing. Reliable analysis of the stroke rate and stroke length in rowing has been a challenge for a long time due to the unavailability of the real scenario data, in particular high-precision PVA data (Larsson, 2003). Existing technologies used for this purpose include theoretical studies (eg.…”

“…However, real-time high precision positioning of the athlete has been a challenging task (eg. Fyfe et al, 2001;Hutchings et al, 2000;Larsson, 2003).…”