Multimodal Feature-Level Fusion CBAM U-Net for Static Plantar Pressure Prediction Using Plantar Geometry and Sparse...

Accurate plantar pressure distribution is important for biomechanics, gait analysis, rehabilitation, and diabetic foot assessment. However, wearable plantar pressure systems are often limited by sparse sensor layouts due to hardware complexity, power consumption, and user comfort constraints. This study proposes a multimodal deep learning framework for static plantar pressure prediction using plantar geometry information and sparse landmark constraints. A convolutional block attention module U-Net architecture was developed to integrate plantar geometry and sparse landmark modalities through dual-encoder feature fusion with attention refinement. Different network architectures, fusion strategies, and landmark densities were systematically evaluated using a controlled-variable experimental design. Results demonstrated that feature-level fusion consistently outperformed data-level fusion and unimodal configurations across all landmark densities. The proposed model achieved the best performance with a normalized root mean square error of 0.087 using 16 landmarks, and the same model maintained a normalized root mean square error of 0.138 using only two landmarks, indicating promising reconstruction performance even under highly sparse sensing conditions. Marginal contribution and synergy analyses further showed that feature-level fusion more effectively captured complementary interactions between plantar geometry and sparse anatomical guidance, particularly under sparse landmark conditions. These findings suggest that multimodal feature-level fusion provides an effective strategy for sparse-to-dense plantar pressure reconstruction and may support the development of low-cost intelligent insole systems for biomechanical monitoring and clinical applications.