LoadVUE for Boxer Training - User Guide
Installation
Insert the LoadVUE for Boxer Training CD-Rom into drive. The installation should start automatically. If not, browse to the CD-Rom folder and run Setup.exe to run the installation. The drivers needed to recognize the devices will also be installed automatically.
Hardware Requirements
LoadVUE for Boxer Training will run on all Windows versions (XP, Vista, 7 and 8) in both 32 bit and 64 bit systems. At least a dual core processor is required to acquire and plot the data at speeds near or above 1000 Hz. You may notice degraded performance if your computer's CPU only has one core.
Operation
Click on the LoadVUE for Boxer Training icon on your desktop to to start the program. LoadVUE for Boxer Training will scan all the serial ports, detect the Loadstar Sensors load cell attached to your computer and show a list of sensors attached to the computer's USB port. Select the sensor that you want to operate and click to launch the main window. If only one sensor is detected, the main window will be automatically launched.
Main Window
The main screen is displayed next, as shown below.
The main screen consists of the following primary areas:
- Toolbar
- Punch Statistics
- Logging Options
- File name of the log file
- Cumulative Punches Graph
- Scrolling Punches Graph
Toolbar
Use the toolbar area buttons to and reading the sensor. After you have stopped reading, you can click on the button to zoom into an area of the graph. Click on the button to display the General Options, Graph Options and the Punch Detection Settings Options windows.
Punch Statistics
The punch statistics area shows:
- The 'Running' Force - this is the actual reading from the sensor at any given point in time. Under idle conditions, this is usually close to zero.
- Peak Punch Force - this is the maximum punch force computed between the and button clicks, i.e the maximum punch force during a given 'round'.
- Average Punch Force - this is the average of all the punches between between the and button clicks, i.e the maximum punch force during a given 'round'.
- Punches per Minute - this is rate of punching. This is the number obtained by dividing a time interval in minutes by the number of punches in that interval. The time interval is measured by a "punch clock" that can be started either when the button is clicked or when the first punch is thrown.
Changing Units
Click on the units displayed next to the current running force to set the displayed units to one of lbf, kgf or N. Selecting one of these menu items will convert the sensor readings to the selected unit.
Punch History
Below the punch statistics area is the punch history area. This area shows all the punches that occurred during a given round. This history can be optionally logged to a file. (See Logging Options below.)
Logging Options
The punch history can be optionally logged to a comma separated CSV (Excel File) by selecting the option. By clicking on , you can select a folder to which the files will be saved. The files are automatically named and time-stamped.
For each round, two kinds of files are saved:
- 1. The punch history only - i.e what is shown in the Punch History area above. These files have the format Punches File-DDDDMMddHHMMss. This file will not have the sensor readings in between the punches. This file can be used to just look at the number of punches and how large each punch was.
- 2. The complete sensor reading history during a given round. This file essentially can be used to recreate the graph as shown in the graph windows. By plotting the data from this file, one can analyze the duration of punches, how sharp each punch was, etc. This file name has the format Complete History File-DDDDMMddHHMMss
Punch History Graphs
The graph area on the right shows two graphs. Each graph can be maximized to hide the other graph.
Both the graphs essentially show the same data. The top graph shows the entire punch history during a given round. This is called the "Cumulative" mode. The bottom graph shows a subset of the history and scrolls from right to left (off the screen). The time width of the X-Axis can be adjusted by right clicking on the graph and selecting "Graph Options."
Note: If you log for an extended period heavy demand is placed on the processors and memory by the Cumulative graph. To avoid this, by default a round is limited to about 4 minutes. After 4 minutes the operation will automatically stop.
The same window can be used to set colors, line styles, set the Y-Axis scale to automatic or manual etc.
Punch Detection Settings
Click on to set the options of punch detection.
To distinguish a real punch from just the noise of the sensor or the punching bag simply swinging back and forth and creating fake punches, a punch threshold is required. If this threshold is set to, say 10 kgf, then only when the sensor reads a force greater than 10 kgf, it is recognized as a punch. In fact, a punch is only considered as "started" at that time, and when force drops back down to a value less than 10 kgf, it is assumed that the punch has been "completed". At completion, the punch counter is incremented and punch rate is computed. The punch timer, the clock used to time the punches can either be started when the button is clicked or when the first punch is thrown. The timer is stopped when the button is clicked or after a set time interval has expired, whichever occurs first. Every time the button is clicked a new boxing round is assumed to start.
A minimum interval between punches can also be set. This is an additional way to avoid detecting fake punches.
Controls
Once all the settings have been entered, click to reading the load cell. At this point the boxer starts punching. Click to stop reading the load cell and to display the statistics. You can also set the program to stop reading automatically after a fixed time interval, for example, a 4 minute or less boxing round.
Viewing Saved Log Files
Saved log files ("Complete" files only) can be imported for viewing by selecting option from the Graph menu.
In the Overlay window, select "Select Files". You can click on one or more files to select. Only "Complete" files can be selected. The file data will be imported and the graphs will be overlaid on top of each other.
