Ambulatory instrumented insoles are widely used in real-time monitoring of the plantar pressure in order to calculate balance indicators such as Center of Pressure (CoP) or Pressure Maps. Such insoles include many pressure sensors; the required number and surface area of the sensors used are usually determined experimentally. Additionally, they follow the common plantar pressure zones, and the quality of measurement is usually strongly related to the number of sensors. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the robustness of an anatomical foot model, combined with a specific learning algorithm, to measure the static displacement of the center of pressure (CoP) and the center of total pressure (CoPT), as a function of the number, size, and position of sensors. Application of our algorithm to the pressure maps of nine healthy subjects shows that only three sensors per foot, with an area of about 1.5 × 1.5 cm2, are needed to give a good approximation of the CoP during quiet standing when placed on the main pressure areas.
Keywords: center of pressure; plantar pressure measurement; position measurement; pressure measurement; pressure sensors; sensor systems and applications.