A highly sensitive flexible pressure and shear sensor array for measurement of ground reactions in pedestrian navigation

We present the design, fabrication and testing of a high-resolution ground reaction sensor cluster (GRSC) as an auxiliary sensor for pedestrian navigation. The GRSC consists of a flexible high-density array of compressible, elastomeric capacitive pressure and two-dimensional shear sensors. When placed at the heel of a boot, the 169-cell GRSC measures detailed information about the position and motion of the line of contact with the ground. The GRSC uses fingered capacitive sensors that provide a large sensitivity to shear stress. The GRSC sensors have pressure and shear sensitivities of 0.44 MPa
^-1
and 0.76 MPa
^-1
, respectively.