Sensor Cell Network for Pressure, Temperature and Position Detection on Wheelchair Users.

This work proposes an optical sensing network to monitor pressure and temperature in specific areas of a wheelchair to prevent pressure ulcers and to monitor the position of the wheelchair user by analyzing its pressure distribution. The sensing network is composed of six optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensor cells. Each sensor cell is built from a polylactic acid (PLA) base and has two FBGs, one embedded in epoxy resin to monitor pressure variations (FBG) and another without resin to monitor temperature (FBG).

Special Issue "Wearable and BAN Sensors for Physical Rehabilitation and eHealth Architectures".

The demographic shift of the population toward an increased number of elder citizens, together with the sedentary lifestyle we are adopting, is reflected in the increasingly debilitated physical health of the population [...

POFBG-Embedded Cork Insole for Plantar Pressure Monitoring.

We propose a novel polymer optical fiber (POF) sensing system based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) to measure foot plantar pressure. The plantar pressure signals are detected by five FBGs, in the same piece of cyclic transparent optical polymer (CYTOP) fiber, which are embedded in a cork insole for the dynamic monitoring of gait. The calibration and measurements performed with the suggested system are presented, and the results obtained demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the sensing platform to monitor the foot plantar pressure distribution during gait motion and the application of pressure.