Xsens
 | |
| Industry | motion capture, AHRS, Inertial measurement unit |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Enschede, Netherlands |
| Website | www.xsens.com |
Xsens Technologies B.V. is a supplier of 3D motion capture products based upon miniature MEMS inertial sensor technology. The company has created intellectual property in the field of multi-sensor data fusion algorithms, combining inertial sensors with aiding technologies such as GPS, RF positioning and biomechanical modeling. Its headquarters is in Enschede, Netherlands, and is also incorporated as Xsens North America Inc, in Los Angeles, United States.
History
The company was founded in 2000 by Casper Peeters and Per Slycke, both University of Twente graduates. Following work in measurement of the performance of athletes, they specialized in sensor technologies and sensor fusion algorithms. The company developed inertial measurement units or AHRS (MT9, MTi, MTi-G and MTx) and human movement measurement systems (a complete wireless system Awinda-MTw, the successor of the Xbus Kit). In 2007 Xsens introduced an inertial motion capture system called "Moven" (renamed Xsens MVN[1] in 2009). Since 2009, the MVN system has been upgraded with an Ultra-wideband system (MotionGrid).
Xsens won the Silver King Willem I Award, HighGrowth Award, Overijssel Innovation Award 2007) and was listed in the Deloitte "Fast 50" Netherlands / Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA list of fast growing technology companies in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, Xsens acquired Utellus, a spin-off from telecom company Ericsson's EuroLab, specializing in applications of ultra wide band RF technology.
Projects
Xsens participates in projects like FreeMotion,[2] which focuses on the development of ambulatory methods using only body worn sensors for motion analysis. Xsens also participated in the project MuFly,[3] which proposes the development and implementation of the first fully autonomous micro helicopter comparable in size and weight to a small bird. Matris, another project Xsens participated in, is a European consortium to develop a markerless solution for real-time six degrees of freedom tracking for augmented and mixed reality applications.
New projects are MC Impulse,[4] focusing on sensor data processing and MILEPOST, on indoor navigation.
Since 2014, Xsens is a full partner of KNEEMO Initial Training Network (ITN) [5] for knee osteoarthritis research funded through the European Commission’s Framework 7 Programme. As an industrial partner, its role is to develop methods to estimate knee joint loading using inertial motion capture.