Flexible Pressure Mapping Platform for Mobility Monitoring Applications

The goal of the work presented here is the development, integration and testing of an innovative technological approach to be the basis for a new product and service for markets associated with the “Health” vector. Our research focuses on a Physiological computing approach, where a polymeric flexible detection system, working as the sensing element is used as an input channel, and a computing system is responsible for the physiological signals synthesis. The proposed solution provides a simpler, lower cost and larger scale manufacturing production of polymer based sensors, along with an electronic interface and the software design. The sensing platform consists in a flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) manufactured using conventional technology (defining the electrical connections and the capacitors dimensions) together with two flexible polymeric membranes (TPU) printed with conductive ink (Plexcore®) for definition of the electrodes. A Capacitance to Digital Converter (CDC) is used to measure the capacitance of the sensors, and a graphical interface in MATLAB allows real-time visualization of data. Current results performed on the pressure sensors indicate the feasibility of the approach.