Validate ultrasonic sensing under realistic ski-jumping airflow

Validate the performance of the boot-mounted ultrasonic time-of-flight ski-edge-angle sensing system under the aerodynamic conditions encountered during ski jumping, including wind speeds exceeding 90 km/h, to determine whether airflow disturbances cause acoustic distortion or inaccurate distance measurements.

Background

The paper evaluates the ultrasonic sensing system only under controlled laboratory conditions. Because ski jumping involves rapid airflow and turbulent aerodynamic conditions, wind-induced pressure and velocity fluctuations could interfere with ultrasonic-wave propagation and thereby degrade distance and angle estimates. The authors note that preliminary laboratory tests found no measurable disturbance, but explicitly state that realistic field conditions have not yet been experimentally assessed.

References

However, these conditions do not reflect the aerodynamic environment encountered in ski jumping, where velocities can exceed 90\;km\slash h. While the underlying physical principles suggest that the short measurement range may limit susceptibility to airflow disturbances, the system has not yet been experimentally validated under such conditions. Therefore, comprehensive evaluation under realistic field conditions remains an important direction for future work.

— Multi-Sensor Edge Angle Detection for Performance Analysis in Ski Jumping  (2608.17448 - Simeonov et al., 18 Aug 2026) in Section “Limitations & Future Work,” subsection “Environmental Influences on Sensing”