Title :
Electronic sensing system with flexible biomechanical ground reaction sensor array achieving 100 μm/sec gait ground velocity resolution
Author :
Guo, Qinglai ; Suster, Michael A. ; Surapaneni, R. ; Mastrangelo, Carlos H. ; Young, Douglas J.
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Abstract :
This paper presents a prototype electronic sensing system design for a high-density flexible biomechanical ground reaction sensor array (GRSA). The prototype system can be incorporated into a personal boot heel to measure real-time ground force, shear strain and sole deformation associated with a human bipedal locomotion, thus providing zero-velocity correction to an inertial measurement unit placed in a close proximity. This approach can greatly reduce inertial error accumulation and improve positioning accuracy. The electronic sensing system consists of a front-end multiplexer that can sequentially connect individual capacitive sensing nodes from a 13 × 13 GRSA to a capacitance-to-voltage converter followed by a 12-bit ADC sampled at 66.7 k-samples/sec. The entire sensor array can be scanned within 10 msec. The integrated sensing electronics are fabricated in XFAB 0.35 μm CMOS process and dissipate 3mW power. Static and dynamic pressure testing demonstrates the prototype system functionality achieving a gait ground velocity sensing resolution of 100 μm/sec.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; analogue-digital conversion; biomedical electronics; biomedical equipment; biomedical measurement; capacitive sensors; deformation; gait analysis; internal stresses; sensor arrays; 12-bit ADC; XFAB 0.35 μm CMOS process; capacitance-voltage converter; capacitive sensing nodes; close proximity; dynamic pressure testing; front-end multiplexer; gait ground velocity sensing resolution; high-density flexible biomechanical ground reaction sensor array; human bipedal locomotion; inertial measurement unit; integrated sensing electronics; personal boot heel; power 3 mW; prototype electronic sensing system design; prototype system functionality; real-time ground force; shear strain; sole deformation; static pressure testing; zero-velocity correction; Accuracy; Arrays; Biomechanics; Capacitance; Force; Prototypes; Sensors; Capacitance-to-Voltage Converter; Capacitive Sensor; Flexible Sensor; Ground Reaction Sensor Array; Interface Circuit; Pressure Sensor; Sensor Scanning Electronics; Shear Sensor; Tactile Sensor;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS & EUROSENSORS XXVII), 2013 Transducers & Eurosensors XXVII: The 17th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Barcelona
DOI :
10.1109/Transducers.2013.6627322