Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Information Sciences

Development of Sensing Unit “xG-1” for Visualizing Team Plays

The authors have developed "xG-1", a sports sensing unit capable of visualizing the performance and flow of play while recognizing each player in field sports such as soccer, rugby, and American football. Utilization of this sensing unit in the field of sports makes it possible to provide scientific data-driven services with the aim of transforming subjective coaching methods based on experience into new coaching methods based on data. This system consists of sensor devices and software, utilizing real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning, which is a surveying technology. Therefore, the system not only provides highly accurate positional data in real time but also visualizes the overall performance of the entire team, including formation analysis. This allows one-stop management of the overall team and individual performance, as well as efficient information management of the player's exercise load. "xG-1" can support sports businesses by providing highly extensible API and SDK and linking data among end users and systems. In the future, we aim to develop a global open data platform.

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Technical Article Education Electrical and Electronic Engineering Information Sciences Interdisciplinary Sciences

Possibility of regional revitalization by students’ IT

Recently, the number of students who can develop applications that can actually be used has increased. We thought that this power could be used for regional revitalization, we tried to connect the students and the region. As a result, we were able to create some interesting applications, some of which have become widely used in practice. For students, before going out to society, they can work on practical application development and know what kind of ingenuity is necessary to get them to actually use it. Although quality is not necessarily guaranteed in rural areas, the possibility of using the latest AI technology at a short development time and at a low cost was shown.

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Heart Rate Variability Indices May Change Accompanying Cognitive Skills Improvement in eSports Tasks

Electronic sports (eSports) is becoming an increasingly popular subject of research with progress in the video game industry. However, the relationship between eSports and cognitive skills and heart rate variability (HRV) indices is not fully understood. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed changes in HRV indices in 20 healthy adult men while playing eSports and evaluated improvement in their cognitive skills before and after playing eSports using the Stroop test. The subjects were divided into two groups: 10 subjects who were trained in eSports for at least 1 hour a day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and 10 subjects who were not trained. The results indicated that subjects in the training group tended to have improved cognitive skills. In addition, in the group that temporarily improved their cognitive skills by playing eSports, similar changes were observed in HRV indices during eSports play, suggesting a parasympathetic nervous system dominance. Thus, it is suggested that the observed HRV changes were accompanied by the temporary improvement in cognitive skills induced by eSports tasks.

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Real-Time Physiological Monitoring for Management of Normobaric Hypoxic Training Toward Wearable System Implementation

As a method to prevent lifestyle diseases, normobaric hypoxic training has been attracting attention. However, its exercise load and safety in non-athletes remain unclear. In this study, 20 healthy university students underwent a 15-min exercise test in a normobaric hypoxic room set at two different oxygen concentrations (O2: 20% and 16%), and the exercise load and safety were evaluated. The test comprised walking within the upper and lower limits of the heart rate (HR) calculated via the Karvonen method. The results showed that in case of 16% O2, the same energy was consumed despite significantly lower walking speed and distance than those in case of 20% O2. Therefore, it is suggested that the Karvonen method is effective in setting the load for hypoxic training. In addition, real-time monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) could be used to evaluate the safety of hypoxic training. Based on these results, we have developed a wearable pulse oximeter that can measure both HR and SpO2 from the earlobe and a dedicated smartphone application for analysis. If these can be practically applied, hypoxic training can be conducted safely that will contribute to the prevention of lifestyle diseases and the consequent extension of healthy life expectancy.

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