Foot Plantar Pressure Monitoring with CYTOP Bragg Gratings Sensing System

In this paper, a polymer optical fiber (POF) sensing solution to monitor the pressure induced in the foot plantar surface is investigated. The paper shows the design and implementation of a platform with an array of 5 polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs) placed in key points to monitor the pressure on the foot surface during gait cycles and the body center mass displacements. The results showed a great response compared with solutions using silica optical fibers. A much high sensitivity and repeatability were achieved using the CYTOP fiber as well as proving that the advantages of POF is a viable and useful solution for this type of application for a future implementation of an integrated “in-shoe” CYTOP POFBGs sensor network.

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