{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T21:35:24Z","timestamp":1770154524373,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,12]],"date-time":"2020-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1591920000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Traditional pedobarography methods use direct force sensor placement in the shoe insole to record pressure patterns. One problem with such methods is that they tap only a few points on the flat sole under the foot and, therefore, do not account for the total ground reaction force. As a result, body weight tends to be under-estimated. This disadvantage has made it more difficult for pedobarography to be used to monitor many diseases, especially when their symptoms include body weight changes. In this paper, the problem of pedobarographic body weight measurement is addressed using a novel ergonomic shoe-integrated sensor array architecture based on concentrating the applied force via three-layered structures that we call Sandwiched Sensor Force Consolidators (SSFC). A shoe prototype is designed with the proposed sensors and shown to accurately measure body weight with an achievable relative accuracy greater than 99%, even in the presence of motion. The achieved relative accuracy is at least 4X better than the existing state of the art. The SSFC shoe prototype is built using readily available soccer shoes and piezoresistive FlexiForce sensors. To improve the wearability and comfort of the instrumented shoe, a semi-computational sensor design methodology is developed based on an equivalent-area concept that can accurately account for SSFC\u2019s with arbitrary shapes. The search space of the optimal SSFC design is shown to be combinatorial, and a high-performance computing (HPC) framework based on OpenMP parallel programming is proposed to accelerate the design optimization process. An optimal sensor design speedup of up to 22X is shown to be achievable using the HPC implementation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s20123339","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,15]],"date-time":"2020-06-15T05:56:27Z","timestamp":1592200587000},"page":"3339","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Shoe-Integrated, Force Sensor Design for Continuous Body Weight Monitoring"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9237-1148","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shahzad","family":"Muzaffar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3220-9987","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ibrahim (Abe) M.","family":"Elfadel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE"},{"name":"Center for Cyber Physical Systems (C2PS), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"American Heart Association (2020, May 18). Self-Check Plan for Heart-Failure Management. Available online: https:\/\/www.heart.org\/-\/media\/files\/health-topics\/heart-failure\/self-check-plan-for-hf-management-477328.pdf?la=en."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1549","DOI":"10.1161\/CIRCULATIONAHA.107.690768","article-title":"Patterns of Weight Change Preceding Hospitalization for Heart Failure","volume":"116","author":"Chaudhry","year":"2007","journal-title":"Circulation"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"420","DOI":"10.1093\/eurjhf\/hfp033","article-title":"Predicting hospitalization due to worsening heart failure using daily weight measurement: Analysis of the trans-European networkehome-care management system (ten-hms) study","volume":"11","author":"Zhang","year":"2009","journal-title":"Eur. J. Heart Fail."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hegde, N., Bries, M., and Sazonov, E. (2016). A Comparative Review of Footwear-Based Wearable Systems. Electronics, 5.","DOI":"10.3390\/electronics5030048"},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Tekscan (2020, May 01). F-scan, In-Shoe Pressure Measurement Technology. Available online: https:\/\/www.tekscan.com\/product-group\/medical\/in-shoe."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"849","article-title":"Comparison of Vertical GRF Obtained from Force Plate, Pressure Plate and Insole Pressure System","volume":"11","author":"Castro","year":"2011","journal-title":"Port. J. Sport. Sci. (Suppl.)"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2714","DOI":"10.1109\/TIM.2018.2829338","article-title":"A 6 DoF, Wearable, Compliant Shoe Sensor for Total Ground Reaction Measurement","volume":"67","author":"Eng","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"Jawale1, B., and Korra, L. (2018). Wearable Body Weight Estimation using FSR. Int. Res. J. Eng. Technol. (IRJET), 5, 90\u201393."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"146","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2015.08.475","article-title":"Wearable Weight Estimation System","volume":"64","author":"Hellstrom","year":"2015","journal-title":"Procedia Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Morris, S.J., and Paradiso, J.A. (2002, January 23\u201326). Shoe-integrated sensor system for wireless gait analysis and real-time feedback. Proceedings of the Second Joint 24th Annual Conference and the Annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society [Engineering in Medicine and Biology], Houston, TX, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IEMBS.2002.1053379"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Saadeh, W., Altaf, M.A.B., and Butt, S.A. (2017, January 23\u201325). A Wearable Neuro-Degenerative Diseases Detection System Based on Gait Dynamics. Proceedings of the 25th IFIP\/IEEE International Conference on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI-SoC 2017), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.","DOI":"10.1109\/VLSI-SoC.2017.8203488"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Thepudom, T., Seesaard, T., Donkrajang, W., and Kerdcharoen, T. (2013, January 1\u20134). Healthcare Shoe System for Gait Monitoring and Foot Odor Detections. Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE), Tokyo, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/GCCE.2013.6664932"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Eguchi, R., Yorozu, A., and Takahashi, M. (2017, January 17\u201320). Accessible Ground Reaction Force Estimation Using Insole Force Sensors Without Force Plates. Proceedings of the 11th Asian Control Conference (ASCC), Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ASCC.2017.8287631"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malvade, P.S., Joshi, A.K., and Madhe, S.P. (2017, January 6\u20138). IoT Based Monitoring of Foot Pressure Using FSR Sensor. Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Signal Processing (ICCSP), Melmaruvathur, India.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCSP.2017.8286435"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, H., Zhou, Z., Wang, J., An, H., and Wei, Q. (2016, January 10\u201311). Recognization of Stance Phase Using Flexible Pressure Sensors. Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and Cybernetics (IHMSC), Hangzhou, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/IHMSC.2016.218"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Eguchi, R., Yorozu, A., and Takahashi, M. (2017, January 5\u20138). Kinetic and Spatiotemporal Gait Analysis System Using Instrumented Insoles and Laser Range Sensor. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Banff, AB, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/SMC.2017.8122690"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aoike, K., Nagamune, K., Takayama, K., Kuroda, R., and Kurosaka, M. (2016, January 9\u201312). Gait Analysis of Normal Subjects by Using Force Sensor and Six Inertial Sensor with Wireless Module. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Budapest, Hungary.","DOI":"10.1109\/SMC.2016.7844414"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Ishida, T. (November, January 31). Development of a Small Biped Entertainment Robot QRIO. Proceedings of the 4th Symposium on Micro-Nanomechatronics and Human Science, Nagoya, Japan."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Delgado-Gonzalo, R., Hubbard, J., Renevey, P., Lemkaddem, A., Vellinga, Q., Ashby, D., Willardson, J., and Bertschi, M. (2017, January 11\u201315). Real-time Gait Analysis with Accelerometer-based Smart Shoes. Proceedings of the 39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Seogwipo, Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/EMBC.2017.8036783"},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"McCoy, S. (2020, May 01). Altra\u2019s First \u2018Smart Shoe\u2019 Will Change The Way You Run. Available online: https:\/\/gearjunkie.com\/altra-running-torin-iq-smart-shoe-review."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Sensoria (2020, May 01). Sensoria Artificial Intelligence Sportswear. Available online: https:\/\/www.sensoriafitness.com\/."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Kickstarter (2020, May 01). Digitsole Smartshoe, The World\u2019s First Intelligent Sneaker. Available online: https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/141658446\/digitsole-smartshoe-the-worlds-first-intelligent-s."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"3L Labs (2020, May 01). Footlogger. Available online: http:\/\/footlogger.com:8080\/hp_new\/footlogger\/."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1103","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2009.2026509","article-title":"A Small and Low-Cost 3-D Tactile Sensor for a Wearable Force Plate","volume":"9","author":"Liu","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"358","DOI":"10.1109\/TMECH.2008.2008803","article-title":"A Gait Monitoring System Based on Air Pressure Sensors Embedded in a Shoe","volume":"14","author":"Kong","year":"2009","journal-title":"IEEE\/ASME Trans. Mechatron."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chinimilli, P.T., Redkar, S., and Zhang, W. (2017, January 24\u201326). Human Activity Recognition Using Inertial Measurement Units and Smart Shoes. Proceedings of the American Control Conference (ACC), Seattle, WA, USA.","DOI":"10.23919\/ACC.2017.7963159"},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"1","article-title":"A Compliant 3-Axis Fiber-Optic Force Sensor for Biomechanical Measurement","volume":"17","author":"Ahmadi","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10240","DOI":"10.3390\/s101110240","article-title":"A Wearable Ground Reaction Force Sensor System and Its Application to the Measurement of Extrinsic Gait Variability","volume":"10","author":"Liu","year":"2010","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Choi, H., Lee, C., Shim, M., Han, J., and Baek, Y. (2018). Design of an Artificial Neural Network Algorithm for a Low-Cost Insole Sensor to Estimate the Ground Reaction Force (GRF) and Calibrate the Center of Pressure (CoP). Sensors, 18.","DOI":"10.3390\/s18124349"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Park, J., Na, Y., Gu, G., and Kim, J. (2016, January 26\u201329). Flexible Insole Ground Reaction Force Measurement Shoes for Jumping and Running. Proceedings of the 6th IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics (BioRob), Singapore.","DOI":"10.1109\/BIOROB.2016.7523772"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"311","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gaitpost.2010.05.014","article-title":"Ambulatory Assessment of 3D Ground Reaction Force Using Plantar Pressure Distribution","volume":"32","author":"Rouhani","year":"2010","journal-title":"Gait Posture"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2122","DOI":"10.1007\/s10439-017-1852-2","article-title":"Estimation of 3D Ground Reaction Force Using Nanocomposite Piezo-Responsive Foam Sensors During Walking","volume":"45","author":"Rosquist","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ann. Biomed. Eng."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Muzaffar, S., and Elfadel, I.M. (2019, January 12\u201315). Piezoresistive Sensor Array Design for Shoe-integrated Continuous Body Weight and Gait Measurement. Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Design, Test, Integration & Packaging of MEMS\/MOEMS (DTIP 2019), Paris, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/DTIP.2019.8752629"},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Muzaffar, S., and Elfadel, I.M. (2020). Sensor Array for Consolidated Force Measurement. (Application Number US20200003643A1), U.S. Patent."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Lumen Learning (2020, May 01). Elasticity: Stress and Strain. Available online: https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/physics\/chapter\/5-3-elasticity-stress-and-strain\/."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"OpenMP (2020, May 01). The OpenMP API Specification for Parallel Programming. Available online: https:\/\/www.openmp.org\/."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"SingleTact (2020, May 01). SingleTact Miniature Force Sensors. Available online: https:\/\/www.singletact.com\/."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.1109\/T-AIEE.1937.5057547","article-title":"Capacitance of a Parallel-plate Capacitor by the Schwartz- Christoffel Transformation","volume":"56","author":"Palmer","year":"1937","journal-title":"Trans. Am. Inst. Electr. Eng."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Baeuscher, M., Wang, B., Hu, X., Mackowiak, P., Merchau, N., Ehrmann, O., Schneider-Ramelow, M., Lang, K.-D., and Ngo, H.D. (2018, January 4\u20137). Simulation And Electrical Characterization Of A Novel 2D-Printed Incontinence Sensor With Conductive Polymer PEDOT:PSS For Medical Applications. Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE 20th Electronics Packaging Technology Conference (EPTC), Singapore.","DOI":"10.1109\/EPTC.2018.8654420"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27026","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2018.2889724","article-title":"New Analytical Capacitance Modeling of the Perforated Switch Considering the Fringing Effect","volume":"7","author":"Rao","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/12\/3339\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T09:38:17Z","timestamp":1760175497000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/20\/12\/3339"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,12]]},"references-count":40,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6]]}},"alternative-id":["s20123339"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s20123339","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,12]]}}}