Measurement of the frontal area of a swimmer: Alternative methods and uncertainty analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/actaimeko.v15i1.2230

Keywords:

swimmer frontal area, posture analysis, propulsion and resistance, AI model, computer vision, sports biomechanics

Abstract

This study presents and validates two simplified methods to estimate the frontal area of swimmers during active motion, based on video recordings from frontal and lateral views. The aim is to provide low-complexity and practical tools suitable for use in some everyday sport training environments, such as swimming pools. The frontal view enables a direct measurement of the true projected area, but is affected by factors such as the water transparency and the variable swimmer-camera distance. Although providing only a 2D projection, the lateral view benefits from a short working distance and good stability, improving the analysis of posture-related features such as body alignment and angle of incidence.

By tracking and analyzing the evolution of the frontal area over the stroke cycle, the proposed methods allow the separation of propulsive and resistive contributions, revealing stroke-specific technical patterns. The results show that this approach can detect changes in technique, posture, and performance across different swimming styles and for the same athlete under varying conditions. Despite limitations in absolute accuracy due to simplified calibration and environmental variability, the system demonstrates sufficient repeatability and sensitivity for comparative analysis. The methods support biomechanical evaluation and feedback, contributing to technique refinement and improved swimmer performance.

Downloads

Published

2026-03-26

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Research Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Paolo Castellini, Alberto Scocco, Alessia Caputo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under the CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Users are free to

  • share, i.e. copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially;
  • adapt, i.e. remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

At the same time, the user must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
Additional information about the license can be found at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Authors are

  • able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).