Design and Implementation of a Complete Wearable Smart Insole Solution to Measure Plantar Pressure and Temperature

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive wearable smart insole system that monitors plantar pressure and temperature in real-time, enabling early detection of foot complications such as those caused by diabetes, with a focus on portability and low cost.

Contribution

It provides a detailed design of a wearable insole with off-the-shelf sensors, circuit configuration, and wireless data transfer for continuous home monitoring of foot health.

Findings

Design of a compact PCB with microcontroller and sensors

Wireless transmission of pressure and temperature data

Potential for low-cost, real-time foot health monitoring

Abstract

A complete smart insole solution that continuously monitors the foot plantar pressure and temperature can detect foot complications early and that too from the convenience of the user home. Widespread health complications such as Diabetic Mellitus need continuous foot complication monitoring to avoid severe complications. With that motivation, this paper provides a detailed design of a wearable insole using popular off-the-shelf sensors to monitor foot plantar pressure and temperature. The design provides details of which temperature and pressure to be used, circuit configuration for characterizing the sensors, and the considerations for developing a compact Printed Circuit board design using appropriate microcontrollers and communication protocol. The system also provides details of how the foot pressure and temperature data from the subjects using the sensors can be transferred wirelessly using a low-power consuming communication protocol to a central device where the data will be recorded. The investigation can help in developing a low-cost, feasible and portable foot monitoring system for patients by facilitating real-time, home monitoring of foot condition using Gait Cycle or Foot Pressure patterns and temperature heterogeneity between two feet. The proposed system will work in real-time.