How to detect walking with Android accelerometer

Question

I\'m writing an application and my aim is to detect when a user is walking. I\'m using a Kalman filter like this:

float kFilteringFactor=0.6f;

        gravi         


        

Answer 1

For walking detection I use the derivative applied to the smoothed signal from accelerometer. When the derivative is greater than threshold value I can suggest that it was a step. But I guess that it's not best practise, furthermore it only works when the phone is placed in a pants pocket.

The following code was used in this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tartakynov.robotnoise

    @Override
    public void onSensorChanged(SensorEvent event) {
        if (event.sensor.getType() != Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER){
            return;
        }
        final float z = smooth(event.values[2]); // scalar kalman filter                               
        if (Math.abs(z - mLastZ) > LEG_THRSHOLD_AMPLITUDE)
        {
            mInactivityCount = 0;
            int currentActivity = (z > mLastZ) ? LEG_MOVEMENT_FORWARD : LEG_MOVEMENT_BACKWARD;                  
            if (currentActivity != mLastActivity){
                mLastActivity = currentActivity;
                notifyListeners(currentActivity);
            }                   
        } else {
            if (mInactivityCount > LEG_THRSHOLD_INACTIVITY) {
                if (mLastActivity != LEG_MOVEMENT_NONE){
                    mLastActivity = LEG_MOVEMENT_NONE;
                    notifyListeners(LEG_MOVEMENT_NONE);                                 
                }
            } else {
                mInactivityCount++;
            }
        }
        mLastZ = z;
    }