Portable Sensing System Based on Optical Fiber Sensors and Smartphone for the Gait Monitoring

This work shows a portable sensing system to monitor human gait characteristics using insoles instrumented with three optical fiber macro-curvature sensors interrogated by a smartphone. The insoles can be easily adapted to shoes, providing characteristics related to the gait phases by monitoring the forefoot, midfoot, and hindfoot simultaneously. A single module containing the light source and the interrogation unit fulfills the portability requirement. The system provides spatial and temporal parameters of the gait.