SwimTime

About

SwimTime uses an ultrasonic sensor and thermometer to aid swimmers get closer to their goals. Attached on one end of the pool, it detects when you finished your lap and automatically records your lap times. Through a user interface you can control this IoT module, track your performance over time, and actively monitor the swimming conditions.

SwimTime Purpose

Why SwimTime?

Swimming is a very popular sport:

In the U.S. swimming is ranked as the No. 3 sports activity in terms of popularity.

Over 400,000 members have been registered in the USA.

In Great Britain swimming has been recorded as the No. 3 fitness activity for all ages with an approximately 10% increase in year-round athlete membership.

As the number of swimmers is rising, SwimTime strives to help these swimmers on their journey to success.

Significance of water temperature:

In CNN it was reported that a high water temperature leads to muscle spasms due to the trapping of body heat. This can have fatal consequences if the "swimmer doesn’t always realize this over-exertion is occurring".

On the other hand, swimming in water that is too cold can also have dangerous implications. In an interview with CNN Professor Mike Tipton (Human and Applied Physiology at University of Portsmouth) explains that swimming in water below 21°C can cause "irregular heart rhythms in healthy people" and even "cardiac arrests in those with heart problems."

SwimTime aids in monitoring the swimming temperature to ensure that you are swimming in optimal conditions.

SwimTime to analyse performance:

To progress in any competitive activity, you must be able to evaluate your performance to push your boundaries to the limit. Swimming is no different. The difficulty lies in being able to accurately and precisely measure your lap times to compare against others as well as your previous sessions. SwimTime provides automated and effective tracking of your swimming so that you can set your goals and observe how you achieve them over time.

See Solution

Solution

How to use SwimTime?

All you must do is specify through the website how many laps you are planning to do. A couple seconds thereafter the timer begins. The ultrasonic sensor measures the distance to you by transmitting and receiving sound waves and can detect when you have finished your lap. At that moment, SwimTime records the lap time, sends the data to the website and resets the timer for the next lap. This repeats until you finish all the laps specified. The website stores the necessary information to track your performance over time, such as various statistics.

See Product features

Product Features

Connect to the Internet

The connection of the board to the Internet facilitates the flow of information between the module and the dashboard. The module receives the number of laps you specified through the dashboard before you start swimming and sends the lap times back when you are done.

Automatically Measure Your Lap Times

Equipped with an ultrasonic sensor, the board can detect when you have finished one lap by measuring your proximity with high frequency sound waves. The device times how long it takes you to complete a lap and logs this as the lap time.

Track Your Performance

After you are done with your session you can visit the dashboard to see how well you performed. With the dynamic graph you can track your improvement by analysing the change in your overall times. Furthermore, you can extract information about your stamina from the individual lap times.

User-Friendly Interface

The simple yet effective user interface means you can focus on your swimming and let SwimTime do the rest.

Measure Temperature

SwimTime uses a thermometer to let you know if your pool is operating at the ideal temperature.

Analysis Dashboard FAQ

Q. How do you access the analysis dashboard?
A. You can find the link here.

Q. How do you start your session?
A. Simply select the number of laps you wish to swim with the "lap" slider and press "start."

Q. How is the data transferred to the analysis dashboard?
A. This is done automatically over an MQTT broker.

Q. What analysis tools/data processing are available on this dashboard?
A. Several useful tools have been incorporated in the analysis dashboard that allow you to monitor various aspects of your swimming. These tools include a real-time stream that displays the lap times as you complete each lap and a dynamic graph to depict the evolution of your lap times. Values such as your best, worst, total, and average lap times are also shown for your complete session. Finally, as an indication of the swimming conditions a temperature measure is also displayed.

See Technical Implementation

Board Implementation

The Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266 board reads/writes data to/from sensors, processes the data and establishes a WiFi connection with the MQTT. The board interfaces with sensors via an I2C interface; the SwimTime board interfaces with four components: an ultrasonic range sensor, a temperature sensor, a buzzer, and an ADS115 analog to digital converter. The ADS115 receives an analog signal from the ultrasonic range sensor, which is proportional to the distance. This signal is converted to a distance measure, which is subsequently compared to a threshold. If the measure is less than the threshold value, the device considers a lap to be completed. It then records the lap time and resets the timer for the next lap. (Note: To obtain an improved performance, a sonar range sensor should be used over the ultrasonic sensor. Furthermore, the board should be enclosed within a waterproof case.)

More Information on the MQTT

MQTT Implementation

The Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) is an internet protocol that enables SwimTime to communicate with the Internet. It acts as a broker between the sensors and the server. SwimTime data is published to an online MQTT broker, which is subscribed to by Adafruit IO MQTT server.

Analysis Dashboard

Swim your way to Success.