Gait Analysis Using Walking-Generated Acceleration Obtained from Two Sensors Attached to the Lower Legs

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Wearable Technology
• Sensor Fusion

Background:

• Inertial sensors offer portable gait analysis but struggle to differentiate motion from gravity.
• Accelerometer data is contaminated by gravitational acceleration, varying with sensor orientation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a gait analysis method that isolates walking-specific accelerations from sensor data.
• To improve the accuracy of gait evaluation using lower-leg mounted inertial sensors.

Main Methods:

• Sensor fusion of gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer data to estimate sensor pose.
• Calculation of gravitational, centrifugal, and tangential accelerations using sensor fusion and gyroscope output.
• Determination of translational acceleration by removing gravitational, centrifugal, and tangential components from accelerometer data.

Main Results:

• Successfully isolated gravitational, centrifugal, tangential, and translational acceleration components from lower-leg sensors.
• The method provides acceleration components solely attributable to walking motion.
• Demonstrated a way to extract pure motion-related acceleration for gait analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed method accurately captures walking motion accelerations, excluding gravitational effects.
• This technique enhances the potential for precise gait evaluation using wearable inertial sensors.
• The approach is expected to advance the field of portable and accurate gait analysis.