Wearable and Thermal Drift-Compensated Monitoring System Based on Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for a 3D-Printed Foot...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Optoelectronics

Background:

• Foot prosthesis performance is critical for user mobility and daily life.
• Traditional Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor systems are often too bulky for wearable applications.
• Signal drift in optoelectronic units due to light source instability poses a challenge for accurate monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a lightweight and compact optoelectronic unit for wearable FBG sensing.
• To create a compensation algorithm to mitigate signal drift in FBG-based monitoring systems.
• To validate the efficacy of the developed system for monitoring foot prostheses.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a compact optoelectronic unit with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors.
• Developed a compensation algorithm using an FBG as a reference to correct for signal drift.
• Assumed linearity in drift across detection channels and no initial drift.
• Experimentally identified and validated the compensation variable.
• Conducted temperature and mechanical tests on a foot prosthesis equipped with FBGs.

Main Results:

• The compensation algorithm reduced drift error by 60% in temperature tests.
• Mechanical tests on a foot prosthesis demonstrated the feasibility of FBG-based monitoring.
• FBG sensor measurements correlated well with an electrical strain gauge, validating the system's performance.

Conclusions:

• The developed lightweight system and compensation algorithm effectively enable monitoring of foot prostheses.
• FBG sensors offer a viable solution for real-time performance tracking in wearable devices.
• This technology has the potential to enhance the functionality and longevity of prosthetic devices.