A novel fiber Bragg grating system for eye tracking.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Ophthalmology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Accurate eye movement evaluation is crucial for diagnosing ophthalmological and neurological conditions.
• Existing eye-tracking methods can be invasive or cumbersome.
• A need exists for noninvasive, wearable diagnostic tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel, noninvasive, wearable eye-tracking device using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors.
• To assess the feasibility of the Fiber Bragg Grating Eye Tracker (FBGET) for dynamic eye movement analysis.
• To demonstrate the FBGET's potential as a point-of-care diagnostic tool.

Main Methods:

• A wearable device, the Fiber Bragg Grating Eye Tracker (FBGET), was developed using FBG sensors.
• The device captures eyeball displacement via strain variations on a cantilever, triggered by lower eyelid movement.
• Eye movements (fixations, saccades) were tracked dynamically and validated against conventional camera-based systems.

Main Results:

• The FBGET successfully captured eye-gaze movement dynamics, including fixations and saccades.
• Simultaneous recordings confirmed the FBGET's real-time applicability and accuracy compared to camera-based trackers.
• Experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed methodology.

Conclusions:

• A novel methodology for eye tracking using lower eyelid displacement and FBG sensors was successfully illustrated.
• The wearable FBGET offers a noninvasive, user-friendly solution for eye movement evaluation.
• The device is suitable for clinical and hospital environments, functioning as a point-of-care diagnostic tool.