Optimization of physical activity recognition for real-timewearable systems: Effect ofwindow length, sampling frequency and number of features

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop an optimized physical activity classifier for real-time wearable systems with the focus on reducing the requirements on device power consumption and memory buffer. Classification parameters evaluated in this study were the sampling frequency of the acceleration signal, window length of the classification fragment, and the number of classification features, found with different feature selection methods. For parameter evaluation, a decision tree classifier was created based on the acceleration signals recorded during tests, where 25 healthy test subjects performed various physical activities. Overall average F1-score achieved in this study was about 0.90. Similar F1-scores were achieved with the evaluated window lengths of 5 s (0.92 ± 0.02) and 3 s (0.91 ± 0.02), while classification performance with 1 s were lower (0.87 ± 0.02). Tested sampling frequencies of 50 Hz, 25 Hz, and 13 Hz had similar results with most classified activity types, with an exception of outdoor cycling, where differences were significant. Using forward sequential feature selection enabled the decreasing of the number of features from initial 110 features to about 12 features without lowering the classification performance. The results of this study have been used for developing more efficient real-time physical activity classifiers.