Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 20
A Full-Body Wireless
Wearable UWB-Based
Human Motion Capture
and Gait Analysis System
Heba Shaban
Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Egypt
Mohamad Abou El-Nasr
Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Egypt
R. Michael Buehrer
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA
ABSTRACT
Gait analysis is the systematic study of human walking. Clinical gait analysis, also termed as quantitative
gait analysis, provides a detailed clinical introduction to understanding and treating walking disorders.
Modern gait analysis is facilitated through the use of specialized equipment. Currently, accurate gait
analysis requires dedicated laboratories with complex settings and highly skilled operators. Wearable
locomotion tracking systems are available, but they are not sufficiently accurate for clinical gait analy-
sis. On the other hand, wireless healthcare is evolving. Ultra wideband (UWB) is one technology that
has the potential for accurate ranging and positioning in dense, multi-path environments. In particular,
impulse radio UWB (IR-UWB) is suitable for low-power implementation, which makes it an attractive
candidate for wearable and battery-powered health-monitoring systems. The goal of this chapter is to
propose and investigate an accurate, full-body, wireless, wearable human locomotion tracking system
using UWB radios, with specific application to clinical gait analysis.
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