About Us
About the Company
Based on a research heritage that stretches back to the 1970s, Charnwood Dynamics Ltd was established as a trading company in 1988. Throughout its long history, it has remained passionately dedicated to providing quality 3D Movement Analysis Solutions.
Today, this dedication to excellence extends across hardware, software, technical support and consultancy. The world-leading Codamotion range of systems is built in-house, and can be supplied with a range of devices such as force plates and EMG systems. The company head office is in the United Kingdom in Rothley, Leicestershire:
Charnwood Dynamics Ltd.
Victoria Mills
Fowke Street
Rothley
Leicestershire
LE7 7PJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 116 230 1060
Fax: +44 (0) 116 230 1857
Contact: info@codamotion.com
Further sales and support staff are based in Marseilles, France:
CODAMOTION Int. Agency
10-12, rue des Frères Pérez,
Bâtiment Bel-Horizon II,
13003 Marseille, France.
Tel: +33 (0) 4 86 95 56 41 (Contact: Mr Florian Laborde)
Mobile: +33 (0) 6 78 72 16 16
Email: florian.laborde@codamotion.com
Worldwide support is provided through business partners and through direct email, video-conferencing, telephone, and fax.
The Codamotion Team
Codamotion is backed by an experienced team of engineers and support staff. All staff are passionate about their specialist subject areas and keen to help movement analysis practitioners in their work. The team thrives on feedback from Codamotion users which helps the company to enhance products and give high quality technical support. It is by working in this way that Codamotion maintains its position as the world's movement analysis provider of choice.
History of Codamotion Technology
The unique Codamotion technology arises from work started by David Mitchelson in the early 1970's at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.
It was felt that if a movement measuring and analysis system were to be generally useful for a wide range of applications it should meet some basic essential criteria including:
- High spatial and temporal resolution and accuracy
(sub millimetre and >200Hz) - Automatic identification of markers
- Real-time output of co-ordinate data with millisecond latency
- Pre-calibration
- Good ease of use
- Portability
At the time of the original development a number of possible techniques were evaluated. These included ultrasound, radar, inertial devices, and video cameras, all of which were rejected as not meeting one or more of the above criteria. So a long odyssey began to find a method that would.
Into the 1970's
In the mid 1970's a method was developed using solid-state injection lasers as the markers and a hybrid analogue/digital optical mask as the detection device within the cameras. It was also at this time that the concept of three high-resolution uni-axial cameras mounted on a rigid frame was devised. This enabled the system to be pre-calibrated to allow calculation of the 3-D co-ordinates, without the need for the user to carry out on-site calibration.
The first system was developed as a research instrument within Loughborough University, United Kingdom and achieved resolutions of 1 part in 4000 at a 1KHz sampling rate. It was not a commercial system and it was felt it did not attain high enough spatial resolution.
The 1980's
The next generation of the Codamotion system was developed within a commercial setting and used passive corner-cube retro-reflecting prisms as markers. The prisms were automatically identified by colour using revolving polygonal mirrors as scanning devices. Beams of light were swept across the field of view by the mirrors. When a marker was briefly illuminated by the transiting beam it reflected a pulse of light back via the same mirror. The returning light pulse was detected via a complex set of fibre-optics and photodiode Prismdetectors.
Resolutions of better than 1 in 50,000 (approx 0.2mm) at 300Hz sampling rate were achieved with this version of the Codamotion system, a small number of which were produced commercially. While its spatio-temporal performance was far better than any other technique available at the time, it suffered from the limitation that only a maximum of 12 prism markers could be uniquely identified by colour.
1990's - The mpx30
The power of embedded microprocessors made possible the next generation of the Codamotion system. This became all solid state, using a unique optical correlation technique to achieve resolutions of up to 1 in 100,000 at sampling rates up to 800Hz. The markers were changed to small infrared LED's allowing 56 markers to be tracked simultaneously.
Codamotion Today - The cx1
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The new CODA cx1 system offers unparalleled portability. The sensor now contains an advanced level of processing capability previously carried out by the main computer. This important development means that the computer specification to operate the system has been reduced from an industrial requirement to that of a standard laptop or host PC. The current system is small, accurate, portable and very easy to use. Together with its extensive application software, it has found worldwide acceptance in clinical movement analysis laboratories, biomechanics research, neuro-physiology research, sports performance assessment, and VR / Interaction. |
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Codamotion FOR THE FUTURE
The company has always led the way in movement analysis and our team are very excited about what the future has to offer. Hardware and software can only continue to get more powerful and more easy to use. The strong technical team continues to serve the growing base of Codamotion users with high quality technical support and innovative product enhancements.