AMTI Digital force plates

The settings for AMTI Gen5, OPT-SC (Optima Signal Conditioner) and AccuGait Optimized are divided between the capture settings and the processing settings. The settings are the same for Gen5, OPT-SC and AccuGait Optimized so in the following descriptions we only refer to Gen5. On the AMTI Gen5 page there are only settings for the capture. There is one page for each connected AMTI Gen5 amplifier, the name of the page will be the same as specified for the plate on the Force data page. The default name includes the model and serial number of the connected force plate.

For AMTI force plates with the new calibration chip the only processing setting that is needed is the location, see chapter Force plate location. If you have an old AMTI force plate where you have to input the calibration matrix manually then that needs to be added in the AMTI-Netforce program. QTM will then automatically read the settings file for that program. For a description on how to connect the cameras see chapter Connecting AMTI Digital force plates.

The Amti Gen5 heading contains information about the force plate that is connected to the amplifier. The information includes the Model and the Serial numbers.

The only setting under Sync settings heading that can be set on the AMTI Gen5 is the Sync source option, to decide which camera that the synchronization cable is connected to. Then click on Advanced to change the frequency of the force plate. You will go to the Timing Advanced page with just the Sync source camera selected. Change the Synchronization output setting to the desired frequency, see chapter Synchronization output. It is recommended to use the Camera frequency multiplier option to set the frequency, because for example when exporting to C3D then the force frequency must be a multiple of the marker capture rate.

If there is an analog board in the system, that is also frame synchronized, then it is recommended to use the same camera as synchronization source for the analog board and the AMTI Gen5. Then you can use the Sample rate option on the Analog board page to control the frequency on both of the boards.

The buffer of the AMTI Gen5 is 16 samples. Therefore if the number of analog samples is not an multiple of 16 there will be some empty force plate samples at the end of the measurement.

The following information is displayed on the page:

  • Relative capture rate
    The sample factor compared with the marker capture rate, which is the same as the multiplier used for the Sync output.

  • Capture rate (marker)
    The resulting AMTI Gen5 capture rate when using a camera in marker mode as sync source.

  • Capture rate (video)
    The resulting AMTI Gen5 capture rate when using a camera in video mode as sync source.

Use the Force plate auto-zero settings to control when to auto-zero/reset the force plate. There are two options to control the auto-zeroing.

  • On measurement start
    When enabled the force plates are auto-zeroed at two operations in QTM: just before the Start capture dialog is opened before a capture and in a batch capture just before QTM starts Waiting for next measurement/trigger.

  • On preview start
    When enabled the force plates are auto-zeroed at two operations in QTM: new file and changing a setting in Project option during preview.

  • There is also an option to auto-zero the plates while QTM are in preview mode. Just right-click in a Data info window that displays force data and select Zero all force plates. It is important to use this zeroing at least every hour if both auto-zeroing options have been disabled.