Insole optical fiber sensor architecture for remote gait analysis: an eHealth Solution

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 non-invasive as possible, in order not to compromise the mobility and the day-to-day activities of citizens. Therefore, we present the development of a non-invasive optical fiber sensor 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. The paper explores the production of the optical fiber sensor 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 optical fiber sensor network integrated with a wireless transceiver to enable efficient ubiquitous monitoring of patients. The paper shows the calibration and measurement results, which reflect the accuracy of the proposed system, under normal walking in controlled area.