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We have a new generation of Bangle JS programmers now so I am hoping someone will be interested enough to take it to the next level
I just spent the last hour since @johan_m_o posted reading all about step counting algorithms. When I'm actually on the computer with access to a compiler I might try a few things out just to get a grasp of how the test harness works (the link is quite buried, so for people who haven't already read this whole thread twice: https://github.com/dariosalvi78/banglejs-algos-tester.).
I was hoping to have a look at this paper, which seemed interesting: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9050443 but sadly it is paywalled. Some of the other papers I have looked at use gyroscope readings instead of or in addition to accelerometer, which is something I don't think the data in the test harness has (right?).
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myownself
Hi there @johan_m_o, I have gone as far as I can with the current algorithm. In the early days it was a aweful lot of testing by actually walking. The current approach has weaknesses but I am not sure how to proceed to fix them. The challenge is not so much counting steps but not counting them when you are not walking. Driving and Housework are the area's where the current algorithm over counts. The good news is that we have a test harness for testing new approaches that is fairly accurate in predicting real word results. We can run a number of accelerometer logs of known step counts against the test harness. I was very pleased to see that we beat the oxford step counter both on walking and non walking recordings. I have tried a couple of tweaks but when tested they did not improve things and in some cases made them worse.
In comparison to earlier implementations of the steps counter; on Bangle 2 I have hardly seen anyone complain about the step counter, its been several months since Bangle 2 got out there and your post is the first I have seen saying you think its not as accurate as it might be. There have been a couple of posts by people who appear to have bad accelerometers but not other mention.
The other thing I would say is that there can be a wide variation of results across step counters even when doing a controlled test like a 30 minute walk around the same route or a 20 minute drive, there can be 1-5 % variation on the same device etc. FitBit in the early days was notorious for counting steps when driving.
We have a new generation of Bangle JS programmers now so I am hoping someone will be interested enough to take it to the next level - I hope they can come up with something that performs better than where I was able to get it to AND the test harness results prove the improvements work.