Insole Optical Fiber Sensor Architecture for Remote Gait Analysis - An e-Health Solution

Maria Fátima Domingues, Nelia Alberto, Catia Sofia Jorge Leitao, Cátia Tavares, Eduardo Rocon De Lima, Ayman Radwan, Victor Sucasas, Jonathan Rodriguez, Paulo S.B. Andre, Paulo F.C. Antunes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

83 Scopus citations

Abstract

The advances and fast spread of mobile devices and technologies, we witness today, have extended its advantages over medical and health practice supported by mobile devices, giving rise to the growing research of Internet of Things (IoT), especially the e-Health field. The features provided by mobile technologies revealed to be of major importance when we consider the continuous aging of population and the consequent increase of its debilities. In addition to the increase of lifetime span of population, also the increase of health risks and their locomotive impairments increases, requiring a close monitoring and continuous evaluation. Such monitoring should be as noninvasive as possible, in order not to compromise the mobility and the day-to-day activities of citizens. Therefore, we present the development of a noninvasive optical fiber sensor (OFS) architecture adaptable to a shoe sole for plantar pressure remote monitoring, which is suitable to be integrated in an IoT e-Health solution to monitor the wellbeing of individuals. This paper explores the production of the OFS multiplexed network (using fiber Bragg gratings) to monitor the foot plantar pressure distribution during gait (walking movement). From the acquired gait data, it is possible to infer health conditions of the patient's foot and spine posture. To guarantee the patients mobility, the proposed system consists of an OFS network integrated with a wireless transceiver to enable efficient ubiquitous monitoring of patients. This paper shows the calibration and measurement results, which reflect the accuracy of the proposed system, under normal walking in controlled area.

Original languageBritish English
Article number7967821
Pages (from-to)207-214
Number of pages8
JournalIEEE Internet of Things Journal
Volume6
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2019

Keywords

  • e-Health
  • fiber Bragg gratings (FBG)
  • gait analysis
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • optical fiber sensing
  • plantar pressure

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