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Acceleration curves from wearable sensors resemble those from a laboratory optical system

2 studies · 12 archers measured

ForContextAgainst202420262024, for, n = 62024, context, n = 62025, context, n = 6
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is only one direct comparison, and it is a 2024 conference abstract: six archers from the Chinese national team shoot at fifty metres wearing five inertial sensors at 60 hertz while an eight-camera optical system records at 200 hertz. Most of the coefficients of multiple correlation between the two systems' acceleration curves exceed 0.75, meaning the curves have a very similar shape. A high correlation, though, does not mean the two instruments give the same number: without errors per axis and limits of agreement the sensor can follow the shape of the movement well and still misjudge its size, and the abstract reports neither. The same work finds the lower back the most consistent segment from one shot to the next, and no difference in consistency between arrows scoring ten and the rest. In 2025 a preprint on six teenage archers shows that an accelerometer on the bow wrist can recognise the phases of the shot, but does not compare it with any reference system.

Also phrased as: "inertial sensors in archery"; "inertial measurement units for archers"; "movement analysis with sensors"; "accelerometer on the bow"; "wearable technology in archery"

In practice

One hears that a cheap sensor strapped to the arm or the bow can give you on the range the same movement analysis that used to need a laboratory full of cameras.

Evidence

  • 2024
    For Archers Published later

    6 archers from the Chinese national team, 3 men and 3 women, at 50 metres, with 5 Xsens DOT inertial sensors at 60 hertz and an 8-camera Qualisys optical system at 200 hertz: most of the coefficients of multiple correlation between the two systems' acceleration curves exceed 0.75. It is a conference abstract: it does not report the values per segment, the errors or the limits of agreement.

    A032: Archery Consistency Assessment by Using Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) · Zengkai Lin, Xinglong Zhou

  • 2024
    Context Archers Published later

    Using the sensor data, the consistency of the movement from one shot to the next, measured as the distance between curves after time alignment, is better at the lower back than at the other segments (p below 0.05), while there is no difference in consistency between arrows scoring ten and the rest (p above 0.05).

    A032: Archery Consistency Assessment by Using Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) · Zengkai Lin, Xinglong Zhou

  • 2025
    Context Archers Published later

    6 Chinese teenage archers in official competition, a three-axis accelerometer at 20 hertz on the bow wrist: between draw and aim two axes rise and then fall, during aiming all three settle and at release two start moving again, although during aiming the signal stays less steady than the authors expected. A neural network recognises the windows containing a complete shot in 95.99 per cent of cases, but single windows in conditions close to real use only in 75. A preprint, with no comparison against a reference system.

    A Machine Learning-Based Multimodal Framework for Wearable Sensor-Based Archery Action Recognition and Stress Estimation · Xianghe Liu, Jiajia Liu, Chuxian Xu, Minghan Wang, Hongbo Peng, Tao Sun, Jiaqi Xu

Status history

  1. 2024 Reported The first comparison between wearable sensors and cameras on the same shot: six archers from the Chinese national team at fifty metres, five inertial sensors at 60 hertz and an optical system at 200. Most of the correlation coefficients between the acceleration curves exceed 0.75, so the shape of the movement matches well, but the abstract reports no errors and no limits of agreement, and a similar shape does not guarantee equal values. A single validity study, in the form of a conference abstract, on six archers: reported.
  2. 2025 Reported A preprint on six teenage archers in official competition uses a wristband with an accelerometer on the bow wrist and recognises the phases of the shot: aiming flattens all three axes and the release sets them moving again, although during aiming the signal stays less steady than expected. It shows that the sensor carries information about the movement, but it does not compare it with any reference system, so it adds nothing on this question: the status holds.

Related

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Research lines

Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

See the full assessment
Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Acceleration curves from wearable sensors resemble those from a laboratory optical system (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/wearable-sensors-archery-movement

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_sensoriindossabilimisuratiro,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Acceleration curves from wearable sensors resemble those from a laboratory optical system},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/wearable-sensors-archery-movement},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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