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Question by Sylux102 · Apr 03, 2015 at 08:03 PM · accelerometergps

Which is best for speed detection, Accelerometer or GPS?

I need to detect how fast a device is traveling, but I do not care about where it is moving or in which direction. It needs to be able to detect speeds from walking to over 100 mph, just as an example. Again, direction of travel and location are not necessary. Which is better to use for this? I've read that GPS is accurate to maybe 32ft (10m), but its update speed is not incredibly fast. Accelerometer detects motion, but I read it isn't good with gradual acceleration, just with sudden speed changes. So which would provide me the best solution?

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avatar image UNZoOM · Apr 03, 2015 at 08:24 PM 0
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You should probably try to figure out the working behind this or similar apps.

The strava app btw uses gps.

Accelerometers will work regardless of the terrain and weather conditions

avatar image DoTA_KAMIKADzE · Apr 03, 2015 at 08:34 PM 0
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I'd say both, you heard right GPS on higher speeds is way more accurate, but the problem with GPS is that it is still a satellite and a lot of things can happen while signal travels from it to your device so that you might have "speed spikes" when signal is lost because something happened and then appears again.

Basically using everything you can is the best solution if accuracy is the priority #1 for you.

avatar image Sylux102 · Apr 03, 2015 at 08:40 PM 0
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Thanks for the information. Right now I'm leaning towards accel input, mainly due to the mentioned possible weather issues. but how precise is it on newer mobile devices? For instance, accurate to the nearest foot per second, $$anonymous$$ute, hour etc? The device should work in all conditions, but its got to be accurate as far as distance/time is concerned.

avatar image DoTA_KAMIKADzE · Apr 03, 2015 at 09:00 PM 0
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With mobiles you can also consider using "GS$$anonymous$$ triangulation". I'm not an expert in this field but that is basically your best bet to use all 3 of those methods and compare them with some priority and lag-spikes detection by using your custom algorithm or something you can find on the internet. In any case I'd not rely on single accelerometer it is a bad idea, if you can only use GPS and Accel I'd suggest to use GPS and detect "absent change of signal" with accelerometer.

As for accelerometers precision, sensitivity and frequency - find out which one your target devices uses and read their datasheets, just as an example $$anonymous$$XTI9

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