Development of a mist computing device for a smart insole aiming on human gait analysis

Abstract

Plantar foot measurement systems are used to monitor human gait, which is proven to be a useful tool for many diseases diagnosis and treatment monitoring, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. In recent years, many Research and Development teams have been designing and developing instrumented shoes for gait-related data acquisition and wireless transmission using various sensor and electronics technologies, often featuring low power consumption. Working in that direction, the Smart Insole project aims at the development of an integrated system that can act as a gait monitoring and analysis tool for aiding gait-affecting diseases diagnosis, treatment monitoring and personal safety among others. The current work focuses on the main characteristics and initial test results of the developed in-sole device. This device consists of sensors, a powerful microcontroller and dedicated embedded software for high sampling rate and Bluetooth Low Energy communication and has been developed so that it can be integrated in the shoe.