Optimization techniques for underfoot pressure measurement
A plantar foot pressure measurement provides important information which can be used as a helpful tool for evaluating patients with foot complaints. Foot plantar pressure systems are devices that are used to measure underfoot pressure. They can be classified into two types: platform systems and i...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/71141/1/FK%202017%2036%20-%20IR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/71141/ |
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| Summary: | A plantar foot pressure measurement provides important information which can be
used as a helpful tool for evaluating patients with foot complaints. Foot plantar
pressure systems are devices that are used to measure underfoot pressure. They can be
classified into two types: platform systems and insole systems. An insole system is
flexible and portable, thereby allowing a wider variety of studies to be carried out with
different gait tasks, footwear designs and terrains, while a platform system is fixed and
limited to the measurement of underfoot pressure in a static condition, and is usually
used for the detection of ulceration. Currently, underfoot pressure ranges have not been
effectively established, and there is insufficient information about the minimum and
maximum values of underfoot pressure. Likewise, constraints with regard to the
implementation of insole systems still persist and are represented by the need to put a
spacer on the sensor during measurements, with the problem of sensor parameters
changing after the calibration. Therefore, optimization of measurement techniques
have been proposed for the implementation of an insole system to measure the
underfoot pressure to overcome these drawbacks.
This research was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Universiti
Putra Malaysia. The research was aimed at measuring the pressure of 15 points under
the foot for 12 samples, divided into two groups (male and female). Two techniques
were used to implement the insole system for the effective measurement of underfoot
pressure, namely a sensor optimization of the output voltage swing, and the setting of
the physical characteristics of a spacer to be placed on the sensors. In addition, a self-
calibration technique was employed with the insole system to maintain the sensor
measurements and to solve the problem of the changing of the sensor parameters after
a period of time following the calibration. The performance of the proposed device
after the application of these techniques was tested with an insole system based on the
calculation of the body weight. The results showed that the proposed insole plantar
pressure device was able to measure the plantar pressure ranges effectively and was able to calculate the body weight with a measurement error of up to 5.07 % of the real
value of the body weight using a weight scale. This was compared to the use of a
commercial device (novel EMED system) which calculated the body weight with a
measurement error of up to 9.2 %, or the use of the current insole system without any
optimization technique, which calculated the body weight with a measurement error
of up to 9.06 % from the real value. This work will contribute towards the benefit of
the social and industrial sectors in terms of measurement precision. |
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