Title: Development and evaluation of a low-cost data acquisition system using heterogeneous sensors

Authors: Muhammad Zubair; Hafiza Nida Ishaq; Ali Raza; Hafiz Farhan Maqbool; Saqib Zafar

Addresses: Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; Human-Centred Robotics Lab, National Centre of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan ' Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; Human-Centred Robotics Lab, National Centre of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan ' Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan; Human-Centred Robotics Lab, National Centre of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan ' Department of Mechanical, Mechatronics and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Faisalabad Campus), Pakistan; Human-Centred Robotics Lab, National Centre of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan ' Department of Mechanical, Mechatronics and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Faisalabad Campus), Pakistan; Human-Centred Robotics Lab, National Centre of Robotics and Automation, Pakistan

Abstract: Acquiring human's musculoskeletal movements is pivotal in conducting physiotherapeutic studies, rehabilitation exercises, and designing assistive devices to cater mobility impairments. Existing studies are generally more focused on measuring a specific phenomenon and/or lack the diversity needed to cover the range of human activities. In this context, the research presented herein is aimed to develop a low-cost wearable sensory system, having a diverse set of sensors, which can acquire data of healthy and rehabilitated subjects alike during diverse locomotor activities in both indoor and outdoor environments. The system consists of 20 wearable sensors, and two off-the-shelf NI's myRIO microcontroller boards. The statistical analysis showed no significant difference between and among the subjects for various locomotor activities (P-values < 0.05), hence, showing the system's reliability and reproducibility. Gait-event identification (i.e., heel contact/toe off) has also been evaluated and showed promising results (overall time difference = ± 50 ms during level ground and ramp activities).

Keywords: heterogeneous sensors; locomotor activities; gait events; data acquisition; public dataset; low-cost.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2022.125274

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2022 Vol.40 No.1, pp.45 - 56

Received: 11 Nov 2021
Accepted: 06 Jan 2022
Published online: 05 Sep 2022 *

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