World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

Vol:15 2008-03-20

Real Time Force Sensing Mat for Human Gait

Analysis
Darwin Gouwanda, S. M. N. Arosha Senanayake, M. M. Danushka Ranjana Marasinghe,
Mervin Chandrapal, Jeya Mithra Kumar, Tung Mun Hon, and Yulius

However, despite of its capabilities and performances, force

Abstract—This paper presents a real time force sensing platform has several limitations. One of its limitation is that
instrument that is designed for human gait analysis purposes. This force platform does not provide either qualitative or
instrument mainly consists of three main elements: the force sensing qualitative information on how the ground reaction forces are
mat, signal conditioning and switching circuit and data acquisition distributed on the human foot, from toe to heel. Therefore, due
device. In order to control and to process the incoming signals from
to this reason, engineers and other various field researchers
the force sensing mat, Force-Logger and Force-Reloader program are
developed using Labview 8.0. This paper describes the architecture
have designed and developed force sensing mat that is capable
of the force sensing mat, signal conditioning and switching circuit to visualize the force distribution of the human feet. Paradiso,
and the real time streaming of the incoming data from the force et al used Polyvinylidene Fluoride polymer (PVDF) wires to
sensing mat. develop a magic carpet that is capable of measuring human
foot pressure [1]. Srinivasan, et al developed a pressure
Keywords—Force platform, Force sensing resistor, human gait sensing floor that has one sensor per square centimeter, with
International Science Index 15, 2008 waset.org/publications/2146

analysis. sensor spaced 10 mm apart and each sensor has active area of
6 mm x 6 mm [2].
I. INTRODUCTION With similar functionalities as the force sensing mat

A S the study on biomechanics is growing, various methods mentioned earlier, a real time force sensing instrument that has
different concept is introduced in this paper. This instrument
and tools have been developed to collect either dynamics
contains an array of force sensing elements that is capable of
or kinematics parameters of the human gait. And force
monitoring and recording the movement pattern of a test
platform emerges as one of the most common tools used to
subject in standing, walking, jumping and running.
provide information on three orthogonal forces and moments Additionally it is able to provide qualitative information on
exerted by human body. It is widely used in engineering and how the vertical ground reaction forces are exerted on each
medical research, orthopedics, rehabilitation evaluation, part of the human foot i.e. toe, middle foot and heel.
prosthetics and other general industrial uses. If it is mounted
properly, force platform is a very reliable and accurate device. II. FORCE SENSING MAT ARCHITECTURE
There are two similar force sensing mats have been
developed. Each force sensing mat contains 144 Force
Sensing Resistors (FSR) that are distributed evenly on 480
mm x 540 mm acrylic board. And each force sensing platform
has an effective sensing area of 480 mm x 480 mm.

Manuscript received April 9, 2008. This work was supported under

Mechatronics Project II by Monash University Sunway Campus.
Darwin Gouwanda is with Monash University Sunway Campus as a
Research Student leading to Master’s Degree in Engineering Science (phone:
+603 - 551461852; fax: +603 - 55146249; e-mail:
[email protected]).
Namal A. Senanayake is with the Monash University Sunway Campus,
Malaysia since 2002 (phone: +603-55146249; fax: +603-55146207; e-mail: Fig. 1 Force Sensing Platform
[email protected]).
M. M. Danushka Ranjana Marasinghe is currently with Monash University In addition, each force sensing mat has a total of 5 layers
Sunway Campus pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering.
that serve different purposes. The first layer is 3mm thick
Mervin Chandrapal is currently with Monash University Sunway Campus
pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering. acrylic board with 144 through holes to expose the sensing
Jeya Mitra Kumar is currently with Monash University Sunway Campus area of the sensors. The second layer is a customized Printed
pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering. Circuit Board (PCB) that connects the sensing elements to
Tung Mun Hon is currently with Monash University Sunway Campus
four 40 ways connectors where the links between the mat and
pursuing Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering.
Yulius is currently with Monash University Sunway Campus pursuing the signal conditioning circuit is established. The third layer is
Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering. a rubber mat that protects the connection beneath the circuit

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board. And lastly, the fourth layer is a combination of thick

acrylic board and rubber mat. Acrylic board ensures the
stability and rigidity of the platform while rubber mat prevents
the platform from sliding when test subject performs his/her
activities.
Since both force sensing platforms utilize similar sensing
elements and has similar dimensions with same effective
sensing area, both platforms can be arranged to form a larger
platform with dimension of 960 mm x 540 mm. And this
arrangement is able to provide a larger movement area for the
test subject to perform his activities.

III. SIGNAL CONDITIONING CIRCUIT

In overall, there are two major electrical circuitries. Both
circuitries have their own functionality and purposes. The first
electrical circuitry is the signal conditioning circuit. As the
name implies, it contains numerous operational amplifiers that
condition and amplify the incoming signals from the force
sensing mat.
Since the data acquisition device only has limited analog
inputs, switching circuit is implemented. It contains numerous Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of double layer switching method for one
region
multiplexers that are able to switch the readings among the
International Science Index 15, 2008 waset.org/publications/2146

144 force sensing elements. Furthermore, to accommodate the

readings of incoming signals, a double layer switching method The 144 sensors on the platform have been divided into
is introduced. In this method, the force sensing platform is four quadrants of 36 sensors each. Each quadrant will provide
divided into 4 main regions. Each region has 36 sensing one output to the Data Acquisition (DAQ) device. The
elements that are arranged in array. In the first layer of sensors were arranged in a 6x6 matrix order. These will be
switching method, each layer has a total of six multiplexers multiplexed in two stages as shown in Fig. 4.
which are in charge of switching readings among 36 sensing
elements. In second layer, output signals from the
multiplexers are then multiplexed and transmitted to data
acquisition device using a single multiplexer. 1st Quad 2nd Quad

Out 2

Out 1
NET

DAQ
C
3rd Quad 4th Quad

Out 3
Fig. 2 Signal Conditioning Circuit Out 4

Fig. 4 Schematic diagram of arrangements of sensors into quadrants

with connectivity to the ethernet

The state one of the multiplexing is the row selection. In the

6x6 matrix arrangement a single multiplexer is assigned to
control one row (6 sensors). Two op-amps and 6 channels of a
single multiplexer are used in the row selection process.
There will be six outputs for 36 sensors (1 quadrant). The
state two is row selection. The 6 outputs from the row

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selection circuit are then multiplexed by using a single

multiplexer. This acts as a column selector. When a digital
state is selected in this multiplexer it will correspond to the
particular row of stage one. The outputs from each quadrant
will feed into the DAQ. The DAQ will then transfer the
relevant data to the PC through Ethernet port.
Therefore, scanning sensor data from columns and rows
will be done based on the following flow chart in Fig. 5.

Start

Scan Column

Scan Row
International Science Index 15, 2008 waset.org/publications/2146

Finish scanning No
N samples?
Fig. 6 Complete force platforms with four control boxes

Yes IV. REAL TIME STREAMING THROUGH DATA ACQUISITION

DEVICE
Real time streaming from the force sensing platform is
Store Values into achieved by using NI PCI-6070E Data Acquisition card
Shift Registers (DAQ). This device is able to receive the incoming signal
from the signal conditioning and switching circuit, perform
analog-to-digital conversion and transmit them to a computer
for further processing procedures.
To visualize the incoming signals from the platforms
interactively, Force-Logger and Force-Reloader are developed
using National Instrument LabVIEW as shown in Fig. 7.
End Both, software modules are capable of providing qualitative
information on how ground reaction forces are exerted on
each part of the foot i.e. toe, middle foot and heel. This
Fig. 5 Scanning process at the hardware level information is essential as it is able to determine whether the
test subject has good gait posture and to determine whether
Therefore, complete switching and multiplexing circuits of the test subject is exerting the correct amount of force on each
have been built and located in different control boxes as part of the foot in walking, running and jumping.
shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 6 shows the complete force mat with Additionally, both programs have similar features and
four control boxes. Graphical User Interface (GUI) so that user that is familiar
with Force-Logger is able to operate Force-Reloader and vice
versa, without facing any difficulties. The only difference
between Force-Logger and Force-Reloader is that Force-
Logger is used to stream, process and display the incoming
data graphically while Force-Reloader is used to reload the
experiment data taken previously.

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A. Force-Logger C. Software Architecture

Force-Logger is software that is capable of streaming, The program codes designed for the force platforms
processing and displaying the incoming data graphically in perform three tasks sequentially when it is executed. The first
real time. Based on the incoming data, Force-Logger is able task is to get the relevant data which from the data acquisition
to measure the maximum and minimum applied force, the circuit via DAQ card. The data of interest here is the voltage
jumping flight time and maximum jumping height. values when there are forces exerted on the force platform.
Additionally, Force-Logger will record the test subject’s The second task is to convert the voltages obtained to
details i.e. name, age, height and weight and the time and date appropriate force values and finally the third task is to display
when the experiment is conducted. the information of the forces on the front panel. The full
To accommodate one of the strong features, where two program codes can be summarized into the following main
force sensing mats can be merged to one mat to provide larger modules;
sensing area, Force-Logger has two different operational
modes: single mode and combined mode. In single mode, each 1. Prompt the user to key in relevant information, such as mass
force sensing mat is treated individually as shown in Fig. 7. and number of samples to be taken as well as choose a
The signal acquisition and analysis are performed separately. specific activity to obtain the desired outputs
In combined mode, both force sensing mat are merged to one 2. Scan the force platforms and obtain the voltage data from
and treated as one large sensing mat as shown in Fig. 8. DAQ. The voltages are then converted into force values
3. Determine the total force exerted on both platforms at any
instant
4. Compute instantaneous force information, such as
maximum force, minimum force and mean force exerted on
both platforms
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5. Displays the force information in waveforms and intensity

graphs for both platforms after each successive session
6. Stores the data obtained into a folder specified in a
computer
7. Compute the parameters of the specific activity based on the
force data obtained. For example, the hang time, take-off
velocity for jumping activity
8. Display the computed parameters on the front panel
Fig. 7 Force-Logger in single mode 9. Replay simulation using the data stored earlier if the user
wish to review back the simulation

In order to implement all above modules, interactive

Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed. GUIs
developed can be divided into two main modules; run
simulation and replay simulation. Run simulation GUI is
shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 8 Force-Logger in combine mode

B. Force-Reloader
Second software, Force-Reloader is used to load the
experiment data taken previously. It displays the test subject’s
details i.e. names, age, height and weight, time and date when
the experiment was conducted, the operational mode, and the
force distribution data. Once the data is completely loaded,
user can easily perform required analysis such as maximum
and minimum applied forces, jumping flight time and
maximum jumping height as well. Fig. 9 Run Simulation Module

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This GUI is divided into three main sub GUIs. One sub One of the preliminary experiment dataset which contains
GUI is to deal with user profile and force indicator. Second data of 6 test subjects is presented in Table I and Table II.
sub GUI is to visualize waveforms (signals), Intensity Graphs This dataset contains information on test subjects’ jumping
and as well as for combined platforms visualization. Third sub activities i.e. maximum jumping height (JH), jumping takeoff
GUI provides all derived parameters from force sensing data velocity (JV) and jumping flight time (JT).
during walking, jumping and running.
TABLE I
Replay simulation GUI provides similar functions as run
EXPERIMENT DATASET ON ONE LEG JUMP
simulation GUI with fundamental difference of visualizing
data based on previously stored data as shown in Fig. 10. No. Weight (Kg) Height (m) JV(m/s) JH(m) JT(s)
1 51.70 163 1.518 0.112 0.312
2 57.00 163 1.393 0.107 0.281
3 62.60 165 1.711 0.152 0.351
4 69.10 170 1.772 0.161 0.366
5 74.00 175 1.621 0.138 0.442
6 76.50 179 1.675 0.142 0.349

TABLE II
UNITS FOR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
No. Weight (Kg) Height (m) JV(m/s) JH(m) JT(s)
1 51.70 163 1.581 0.132 0.318
International Science Index 15, 2008 waset.org/publications/2146

2 57.00 163 2.590 0.371 0.741

3 62.60 165 2.471 0.346 0.498
Fig. 10 Replay Simulation Module 4 69.10 170 2.293 0.299 0.472
5 74.00 175 3.651 0.679 0.739
V. ACTIVITIES ON FORCE SENSING MAT 6 76.50 179 2.221 0.280 0.451
There are several activities have been performed on the
force sensing platform. These activities include standing From Table I and Table II, it can be observed that different
walking, running and jumping. Additionally, for jumping test subjects have different jumping capabilities regardless of
event, one leg jump, two leg jump and counter movement their height and weight. By comparing Table I and Table II, it
jump experiment have been considered as well. These can be seen that all test subjects are able to jump higher and
experiments have been carried out successfully on 25 test achieve larger takeoff velocity and longer jumping flight time
subjects. In each experiment, test subjects are instructed to in counter movement jump. Another observation that can be
perform activities mentioned above in bare feet. Samples of perceived is that real-time force sensing instrument is
force distributions of the human feet in several activities are performing well in monitoring and recording human motion
shown in Figs. 11 and 12 below. such as walking, running and jumping, in real time.

VI. CONCLUSION
FSR, as force sensing elements have been successfully
implemented in the force sensing mat. Array of FSR on the
acrylic board has given effective force sensing area with
dimension of 480 mm x 540 mm. It is able to display the force
distribution of human feet in various activities. Furthermore,
data acquisition device from National Instrument has enabled
the real time monitoring of the foot pressure in standing,
Fig. 11 Force distribution of human feet in standing walking, running and jumping. Lastly, experiments results are
satisfactory. And it shows that force sensing mat has a
promising prospect. It clearly indicates that it can be used in
various fields, such as sports, clinical rehabilitation and
research as well as surveillance and security system.

REFERENCES
[1] J. Paradiso, C. Abler, K. Y. Hsiao, M. Reynolds, “The Magic Carpet:
Physical Sensing for Immersive Environments”, Proc. of the CHI '97
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, NY,
1997, pp 277-278.
[2] P. Srinivasan, G. Qian, D. Birchfield, Kidané A., “Design of a Pressure
Fig. 12 Force distribution of human foot in one leg jump Sensitive Floor for Multimodal Sensing” Proceedings of the

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International Conference on Non-visual & Multimodal Visualization,

London, UK, 2005.
[3] T. Lee, Y. Kwon, H. Kim, “Smart Location Tracking System using FSR
(Force Sensing Resistor)” International Conference on Artificial Reality
and Telexistence, Coex, Korea, 2004.
[4] J. O. Robert, “Smart Floor: Future Computing Environments”, available
at http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/fce/smartfloor/

Darwin Gouwanda received his degree in mechatronics engineering from

Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia in 2006. The author is
currently pursuing his Masters of Engineering Science (Research) under
supervision of Dr. Arosha Senanayake. His research areas include human
biomechanics and gait analysis, sports engineering and artificial intelligence.

Namal A. Senanayake is currently with Monash University Sunway

Campus where he leads the research group Intelligent, Integrated and
Interactive Systems (IIIS). He has been recently appointed as the chairman of
IEEE Asia-Pacific Robotics & Automation Development Council – Malaysia
Section. Prior to Monash, he has been working with three different
universities; Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, Johannes Kepler
University of Linz, Austria and University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka holding
key academic and research positions. During his 18 years of research
experience, he managed to publish over 72 publications in international
conferences, journals and book chapters. He was one of the editors of three
books published based on the research outcomes. He was the special session
International Science Index 15, 2008 waset.org/publications/2146

organizer for various international conferences, in particular IEEE

conferences. He is one of the reviewers in IEEE publications and Elsevier
publications.
He has initiated research with Sports Biomechanics Centre, National Sports
Complex, in which his research team carried out special research projects of
national interest. Having engaged in this area of research, Interactive
Multilayer Sensorized Smart Floor has been developed under his leadership
and currently in the process of patenting the device. Dr. Arosha is the leader
of MoU between Monash and National Instruments. He carried out various
special research projects under this MoU which are mainly targeting industrial
needs.
Dr. Senanayake is a member of research committee of Monash and he is
the student counselor of IEEE student branch at Monash.

M. M. Danushka Ranjana Marasinghe is currently pursuing his bachelor

degree in mechatronics engineering at Monash University Sunway Campus.

Mervin Chandrapal is currently pursuing his bachelor degree in

mechatronics engineering at Monash University Sunway Campus.

Jeya Mithra Kumar is currently pursuing his bachelor degree in

mechatronics engineering at Monash University Sunway Campus.

Tung Mun Hon is currently pursuing his bachelor degree in mechatronics

engineering at Monash University Sunway Campus.

Yulius is currently pursuing his bachelor degree in mechatronics

engineering at Monash University Sunway Campus.

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