Feasibility Study of Radar-Based Sensing of Motion Comfortability of Pants: Fundamental Experiments to Evaluate Motion Differences in Wearing Denim and Trekking Pants

Considering motion comfort is crucial in the design of both daily and sports pants. However, conventional technologies such as cloth pressure sensors and motion capture systems often need help to accurately sense and evaluate the impact of pants on daily movement. To address this issue, this study explores the use of radar to measure motion information related to ease of movement, aiming to develop a method for evaluating the motion comfort of pants. Doppler radar was utilized to measure and evaluate the differences in motion while ascending a step, with participants wearing either trekking pants or denim pants, which are known to differ in terms of movement ease. Velocity and acceleration parameters were extracted from the Doppler radar data. The results indicated that the peak velocity of leg movement was significantly higher when participants wore denim pants compared to trekking pants. Conversely, the peak velocity of head movement did not show a clear difference between the two types of pants. In addition, statistical differences in leg velocity were significantly correlated with knee and thigh circumference measurements of the participants. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using radar-based methods to evaluate motion comfortability related to different types of pants.