A Performance Analysis System for the Sport of Bowling

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The idea for the SMARTDOT system evolved from a conversation I had with some fellow
teammates on the way back from the Pennsylvania State Bowling Championships in
Johnstown in May of 1988. I'd like to thank Mike Wolfrom and Dave Zelger for raising the
issue of how to accurately measure the rotational rate of a bowling ball. It has been through
seeking an answer to that seemingly simple question that this body of work has taken shape.
In 1988, the technology was simply not available to implement the various solutions that came
to mind. In the ensuing four years, the question stayed with me, and the technology
eventually caught up. I began developing the first SMARTDOT module prototype in May of
1992, and SMARTDOT captured its first waveform on April 11, 1993. I designed and built
that first prototype without prior knowledge of the nature of the waveform it was designed to
capture. Since then, numerous iterations of the module's hardware and embedded software
have been required to get the module to the point where it truly performs its function in a
"transparent" fashion.
Soon after the success of the initial prototype, I placed the project on the back burner as I
became engaged, and then married, and then purchased a house, and eventually assumed other
career obligations that kept me from returning to the pursuit of this research. It was with my
return to Penn State in June of 1998 in my quest for this Master's Degree in Computer Science
at Penn State Harrisburg that I decided to dust off SMARTDOT and get back to work on it.
I must thank Dr. Thang Bui, Dr. Timothy Wahls, and Dr. Linda Null for their collective
exuberance and enthusiasm in teaching. Without their obvious interest in the success and
welfare of their students, I would not have been drawn to Penn State Harrisburg, nor as driven
to achieve all that I have within their program. I have been a Penn State student, in one form
or another, at three different campuses, for more than a quarter of a century, and their
department is the finest that I have known.
Thanks again to Dr. Null for not only serving as my advisor and for appreciating my sense of
humor, but also for her willingness to step outside of her normal areas of expertise and into
"my" world of 8-bit embedded software. Thanks also to Dr. Seth Wolpert and Dr. Pavel
Naumov for reviewing this manuscript and serving on the thesis committee.
I must thank my friends and family for their collective support, understanding, and tolerance
throughout the years that I have been immersed in this Master's program and obsessed with
this project. I promise to them, in the near future, that I will emerge from my office and be
able to focus on issues other than SMARTDOT and the current status of my Master's degree.
Lastly, special praise must go to my wife Sandy, who has tolerated not only my obsession
with this project over the decade of its existence, but has also been consistently supportive of
my efforts towards its development. She has been there through every major milestone. In
addition, over the past four years, her support of my pursuit of this degree has been steadfast
and unwavering, even while I was taking six and nine credits a semester, and especially as I've
spent untold hours at my computer composing this paper. She has brought me breakfast,
lunch, and dinner at my desk so that I could continue working, and has never complained
about the time she has lost to this passion of mine. Without her support and her
encouragement, this project, this paper, and this degree would not have been possible.
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