On measuring mechanical oscillations using smartphone sensors: possibilities and limitation

Abstract

Modern smartphones provide various sensors for measuring physical phenomena in their surroundings. Due to the increased CPU performance and storage space, smartphones become able to process measured data in a more and more complex way. However, different limitations do exist that hamper the usage of smartphones as wirelessly communicating sensor platforms. The research presented in this paper is motivated by a real world application: the measurement of oscillations in the context of building monitoring. We discuss approaches for measuring oscillations using smartphones and analyse their limitations.