Validation of Smartphone Gyroscopes for Angular Tracking in Biofeedback Applications

The paper presents the limitations of smartphone MEMS gyroscopes and their suitability for biofeedback applications with rotation detection. We measured the smartphone gyroscope biases, identified the main causes for gyroscope errors, and quantified their influence on sensor precision. The main validation test includes angular measurements performed concurrently by the calibrated gyroscope and the reference professional optical tracking system. The comparison of both measurement results show, that the existing smartphones with their built-in gyroscopes are sufficiently accurate for angular tracking in real-time biofeedback applications used in sports, recreation, rehabilitation, and wellbeing.