Title: Fibre Bragg grating sensors for plantar pressure monitoring at different walking speeds

Authors: Rupali Suresh; Charandeep Singh; Jiazhong Hao; Sneh Anand

Addresses: Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India ' Bechtel India Pvt. Ltd., 244-245, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV, Gurgaon 122015, India ' Institute for Infocomm Research, 1 Fusionopolis Way, # 21-01 Connexis (South Tower), 138632 Singapore ' Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India

Abstract: This paper presents Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors for plantar pressure monitoring during walking. For sensors fabrication, the FBGs are embedded within arc shaped layers of carbon composite material. This arc shape embedding technique shows average pressure sensitivity and resolution of 1.3 pm/kPa and 0.8 kPa, respectively. Two such sensors are attached at the sole of a ready to wear shoe at the locations of forefoot and hind foot. Pressure is monitored during various walking speeds. Higher rate of increase in the pressure is observed at the forefoot area as compared to heel when walking speed is increased. The result shows the feasibility of FBG-based compact sensor system for plantar pressure monitoring.

Keywords: FBG sensors; fibre Bragg grating; diabetic foot; plantar pressure monitoring; biomedical engineering; carbon composites; ready to wear shoes; walking speeds.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2014.059056

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2014 Vol.14 No.1, pp.34 - 45

Received: 23 Aug 2013
Accepted: 30 Nov 2013
Published online: 16 Oct 2014 *

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