Estimation of Vertical Jump Height using Capacitive Sensing Method

This paper presents a low-cost vertical jump height measuring device based on the time-of-flight technique. A capacitive mat was developed and used as a sensing element to sense the athlete's feet. The capacitive mat was made from aluminum foils that dimensions of the capacitive mat ware with a width of 50.3 cm x length of 70.6 cm. The signal conditioning circuitry that was used as an analog front-end for measuring the capacitive was also described. The time difference between when athletes jumped off and reached the ground was calculated by a microcontroller. The jump height was recorded and stored via the computer. A total of 27 athletes, weighted between 48 kg to 115 kg were used as a sample. The testing results have shown that the proposed system has a percentage difference of 18.16%.