June 2023: Heading for the Olympics with Bavarian sensor systems
With sensor technology from a cross-cluster project of the “go-cluster” members Strategische Partnerschaft Sensorik e. V. and MAI Carbon, top athlete Hannes Aigner is preparing for his fourth Olympic participation. Whatever the season, the team world champion in canoe slalom navigates his boat through whitewater. Aigner has participated for Germany in all Olympic Games since 2012.
Hannes Aigner in the Augsburg Eiskanal in May 2023
© MAI Carbon
The goal is to cross the downstream and upstream gates on the course as quickly as possible according to their numbering, without touching the gate bars.
The top athlete is currently preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. His canoe is equipped with sensor technology from Bavaria. Tracking with various sensors for analysis and optimisation is already commonplace in many competitive sports.
“Due to the high demands placed on sensor technology – it must be waterproof, small and light, while at the same time enabling precise recording – it has only rarely been used in canoeing so far,” explained Matthias Streller, managing director of the Bavarian sensor technology cluster. Together with the leading-edge cluster MAI Carbon, Sensorik-Bayern GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategische Partnerschaft Sensorik e. V. (in short: Cluster Sensorik), has developed sensor systems, so-called sensor beacons, specifically for this application. “Beacons" are small sensors that capture data from the environment and transmit it via Bluetooth for storage and evaluation.
Data in real time from the canoe to the computer
Athletes and coaching staff can use the collected data directly on the course: The collected information is uploaded in real time to the cloud of the Cluster Sensorik and transferred to a virtual model of the canoe – a digital twin. This allows the position and behaviour of the canoe o be evaluated and visualised directly at the course.
The objective data allows Aigner and his coaching staff to analyse strengths and weaknesses of the canoe and the athlete to optimise performance.
Real-time evaluation of the collected data at the training course
© MAI Carbon
Chapter two of a successful collaboration
The combination of fibre composites or lightweight materials with intelligent sensor systems offers great potential, but has rarely been used in practice. The two cluster initiatives Cluster Sensorik and MAI Carbon already addressed this topic in 2022 in the cross-cluster project “Smart Composites” funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, with a focus on use in the industrial sector.
“We are excited to be able to continue our cross-cluster activities with this initiative and thus open up another area of application for sensor technology,” said Sven Blanck, Cluster Managing Director MAI Carbon.
