Best Wireless Protocols for Real-Time Accelerometer Data to Mobile App Integration

Hi there,
I'm currently working as a design engineer for a company that develops vibration transducers and associated instrumentation. I have no experience in electronics outside of the fundamentals taught to me in university, and when I once assembled a 'DIY' guitar effects pedal purchased as a kit.There is a need to develop a system by which hand-arm vibration can be monitored in real-time (or close to it); most systems utilise a portable signal conditioning/data capture unit with a user interface. Our company does not have the means by which we can develop such a device from the ground up, we are not in possession of the knowledge or expertise. However, within the past couple of a years a wireless transmission device had been developed for exactly this purpose: real time data capture of an experimental accelerometer system. We intend on developing a corresponding phone application through which the data can be analysed.The person whom developed this device has long since left, before I even joined. There are stacks of notes and various other electronic documents, but far too much for me to go through and even begin to be able to make sense of! We do have the device currently, and our electrical engineer (who works in analog circuitry as opposed to digital) seems confident that we can dig it out and move forward with the design.I suppose what I'm asking for is if there is anyone on this forum who could either offer me some advice on how to tackle the problem, or could possibly direct me towards the sorts materials from which I could learn more about the principles of operation of such a device in the hope that I could get a fairly comprehensive understanding of how the entire system should function in order to develop what I have detailed.Accelerometers operate on the principles of piezoelectricity, outputting a weak charge signal that can easily be converted into a voltage signal through the use of a conditioning PCB integrated into the device. Thus, an AC voltage signal is what must be transmitted (again, in real-time), and then received by a 'smart' phone. I'm aware that these phones are capable of sending and receiving a wide range of RF signals, but what I don't know is how specific signals are targeted and filtered, and how the software of the phone performs these functions etc.I have been told that the device that had been developed in the past had some problems with delay, in that the memory card being used to buffer the accelerometer signals had a bit-rate that was lower than that of the input signal (this is as far as I understand the problem based on what I have been told)...I'm sure this is a big ask, but my intention is to find a way to effectively educate myself on these matters, but with my lack of experience I don't even know where to start looking for what I need! Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read all of this.

You should find quite a bit on the web about this sort of topic. I developed a system ten years ago that transmitted force, accelerometer and magnetometer data from a  small hold in the hand  medical device. At the time low power blue tooth was not an option, smart phones were not quite so smart, and blue tooth was quite power hungry , so I used a custom protocol without the over heads associated with bluetooth. I got data rates over 500Hz on a desktop PC.
Cheers,Richard

There are several pieces of this problem to consider.1. measuring the acceleration. It sounds like you have some knowledge in how this works.2. translate the analog voltage signal into something that can be transmitted to the phone.
3.something in the phone to receive the data and display it.
For 2 you will need to convert the signal from analog to digital then convert the digital to RF in some frequency and protocol that the phone can receive. Fortunately, you can probably buy an IC or module that will do most of this with a bit of software.You need to decide is what protocol to use. The best bet is probably Bluetooth (you want the low power variety)I'd start with deciding on the transmission protocol so learn about what's available then what parts you can use to generate it. At the same time, you can get the analog guy started on that end.One of the questions you will need to answer is how much data you will have and how fast do you want it.Good luck and keep us posted on you educational process.