A wireless networked smart-shoe system for monitoring human locomotion

This paper presents the development of a low cost wireless data shoe system for monitoring human locomotion. The sensor unit consists of 3 force sensing resistors (denoted by FSR located at ball, lateral border and heel) and 3-axis acceleration sensor (ADXL335). Pressure and acceleration data were sampled at 10 Hz, which is sufficient for various activities such as sitting, standing, walking and possibly for running. The data from these sensors were sent to a base station (via ZigBee wireless network) connected to a personal computer. Experimental results show a clear discrimination of patterns between static and dynamic postures. In addition, we can detect some gait phase from walking sample data which can be used for analysis of healthy gait behavior.