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Advances in Inertial Sensors
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Advances in Inertial Sensors

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 22825

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Cosimo Costantino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Via Gramsci 14, 43126 Parma, Italy
Interests: inertial sensors; telerehabilitation; orthopedic and neurological rehabilitation; instrumental evaluations
Dr. Valentina Bianchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: wearable sensors; wireless sensor networks; digital system design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Giulio Colavolpe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, viale delle scienze 181A, 43124 Parma, Italy
Interests: signal processing; detection and estimation; communication systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, technological advances have enabled radical changes in the medical profession and prompted researchers to develop inexpensive, small, lightweight, and portable inertial sensors that are able to assess movements by measuring the inertia of a suspended mass. Thanks to the rapid progresses in micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), millimeter-sized devices can be produced, providing accurate and reliable measurements, and can be used for monitoring heart motion or bladder movements, heart rate, breathing, pathological tremors, or in general to assess physical activity. These devices are usually integrated into small wearable sensors aiming to perform gait analysis and to obtain an objective evaluation of angular motion, strength, and muscular stiffness. Moreover, with the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept, these devices have become increasingly important in various fields and many efforts have been made to increase their portability to add new features such as continuous monitoring and localization. Increasingly, they are capable of sending data to a cloud service to store and share them with users, caregivers, and/or physicians. Low power consumption is an essential feature to extend battery life, and innovative solutions (e.g., on-board signal processing to limit data transmission, low-power wireless protocols, etc.) have to be considered toward this end. 

This Special Issue is focused on innovative applications of wearable sensors, digital health, and data analytics to any field of medicine, rehabilitation, sports. Prospective authors are invited to submit original contributions, review, or survey papers for publication in this Special Issue of the open-access journal Sensors. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Inertial measurement unit in musculoskeletal disorders;
  • Inertial measurement unit in neurological disorders;
  • Inertial sensors in gait analysis;
  • Inertial sensors and sport (injury prevention, athlete performance, aquatic activities);
  • Signal processing techniques for inertial sensors;
  • Estimation of real parameters through inertial sensors measurements;
  • Localization with inertial sensors;
  • Continuous monitoring and anomaly detection with inertial sensors;
  • Low-power wearable systems based on inertial sensors;
  • Inertial sensors in the Internet of Things framework;
  • Hardware implementation of algorithms for inertial sensors;
  • Data fusion from different sensors. 
Prof. Dr. Cosimo Costantino
Dr. Valentina Bianchi
Prof. Dr. Giulio Colavolpe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 3803 KiB  
Article
Inertial Measurement of Head Tilt in Rodents: Principles and Applications to Vestibular Research
by Romain Fayat, Viviana Delgado Betancourt, Thibault Goyallon, Mathieu Petremann, Pauline Liaudet, Vincent Descossy, Lionel Reveret and Guillaume P. Dugué
Sensors 2021, 21(18), 6318; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21186318 - 21 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2924
Abstract
Inertial sensors are increasingly used in rodent research, in particular for estimating head orientation relative to gravity, or head tilt. Despite this growing interest, the accuracy of tilt estimates computed from rodent head inertial data has never been assessed. Using readily available inertial [...] Read more.
Inertial sensors are increasingly used in rodent research, in particular for estimating head orientation relative to gravity, or head tilt. Despite this growing interest, the accuracy of tilt estimates computed from rodent head inertial data has never been assessed. Using readily available inertial measurement units mounted onto the head of freely moving rats, we benchmarked a set of tilt estimation methods against concurrent 3D optical motion capture. We show that, while low-pass filtered head acceleration signals only provided reliable tilt estimates in static conditions, sensor calibration combined with an appropriate choice of orientation filter and parameters could yield average tilt estimation errors below 1.5∘ during movement. We then illustrate an application of inertial head tilt measurements in a preclinical rat model of unilateral vestibular lesion and propose a set of metrics describing the severity of associated postural and motor symptoms and the time course of recovery. We conclude that headborne inertial sensors are an attractive tool for quantitative rodent behavioral analysis in general and for the study of vestibulo-postural functions in particular. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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18 pages, 1429 KiB  
Article
The Accuracy and Precision of Gait Spatio-Temporal Parameters Extracted from an Instrumented Sock during Treadmill and Overground Walking in Healthy Subjects and Patients with a Foot Impairment Secondary to Psoriatic Arthritis
by Roua Walha, Karina Lebel, Nathaly Gaudreault, Pierre Dagenais, Andrea Cereatti, Ugo Della Croce and Patrick Boissy
Sensors 2021, 21(18), 6179; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21186179 - 15 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3517
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy and precision of a system combining an IMU-instrumented sock and a validated algorithm for the estimation of the spatio-temporal parameters of gait. A total of 25 healthy participants (HP) and 21 patients with [...] Read more.
The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy and precision of a system combining an IMU-instrumented sock and a validated algorithm for the estimation of the spatio-temporal parameters of gait. A total of 25 healthy participants (HP) and 21 patients with foot impairments secondary to psoriatic arthritis (PsA) performed treadmill walking at three different speeds and overground walking at a comfortable speed. HP performed the assessment over two sessions. The proposed system’s estimations of cadence (CAD), gait cycle duration (GCD), gait speed (GS), and stride length (SL) obtained for treadmill walking were validated versus those estimated with a motion capture system. The system was also compared with a well-established multi-IMU-based system for treadmill and overground walking. The results showed a good agreement between the motion capture system and the IMU-instrumented sock in estimating the spatio-temporal parameters during the treadmill walking at normal and fast speeds for both HP and PsA participants. The accuracy of GS and SL obtained from the IMU-instrumented sock was better compared to the established multi-IMU-based system in both groups. The precision (inter-session reliability) of the gait parameter estimations obtained from the IMU-instrumented sock was good to excellent for overground walking and treadmill walking at fast speeds, but moderate-to-good for slow and normal treadmill walking. The proposed IMU-instrumented sock offers a novel form factor addressing the wearability issues of IMUs and could potentially be used to measure spatio-temporal parameters under clinical conditions and free-living conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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22 pages, 1509 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Evaluation of Inertial Sensors for Gait and Jump Analysis
by Isaia Andrenacci, Riccardo Boccaccini, Alice Bolzoni, Giulio Colavolpe, Cosimo Costantino, Michelangelo Federico, Alessandro Ugolini and Armando Vannucci
Sensors 2021, 21(18), 5990; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21185990 - 07 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2924
Abstract
Gait and jump anomalies are often used as indicators to identify the presence and state of disorders that involve motor symptoms. Physical tests are often performed in specialized laboratories, which offer reliable and accurate results, but require long and costly analyses performed by [...] Read more.
Gait and jump anomalies are often used as indicators to identify the presence and state of disorders that involve motor symptoms. Physical tests are often performed in specialized laboratories, which offer reliable and accurate results, but require long and costly analyses performed by specialized personnel. The use of inertial sensors for gait and jump evaluation offers an easy-to-use low-cost alternative, potentially applicable by the patients themselves at home. In this paper, we compared three inertial measurement units that are available on the market by means of well-known standardized tests for the evaluation of gait and jump behavior. The aim of the study was to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each of the tested sensors, considered in different tests, by comparing data collected on two healthy subjects. Data were processed to identify the phases of the movement and the possible inaccuracies of each sensor. The analysis showed that some of the considered inertial units could be reliably used to identify the gait and jump phases and could be employed to detect anomalies, potentially suggesting the presence of disorders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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19 pages, 7266 KiB  
Article
In Vivo Measurement of Wrist Movements during the Dart-Throwing Motion Using Inertial Measurement Units
by Gabriella Fischer, Michael Alexander Wirth, Simone Balocco and Maurizio Calcagni
Sensors 2021, 21(16), 5623; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21165623 - 20 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2038
Abstract
Background: This study investigates the dart-throwing motion (DTM) by comparing an inertial measurement unit-based system previously validated for basic motion tasks with an optoelectronic motion capture system. The DTM is interesting as wrist movement during many activities of daily living occur in this [...] Read more.
Background: This study investigates the dart-throwing motion (DTM) by comparing an inertial measurement unit-based system previously validated for basic motion tasks with an optoelectronic motion capture system. The DTM is interesting as wrist movement during many activities of daily living occur in this movement plane, but the complex movement is difficult to assess clinically. Methods: Ten healthy subjects were recorded while performing the DTM with their right wrist using inertial sensors and skin markers. Maximum range of motion obtained by the different systems and the mean absolute difference were calculated. Results: In the flexion–extension plane, both systems calculated a range of motion of 100° with mean absolute differences of 8°, while in the radial–ulnar deviation plane, a mean absolute difference of 17° and range of motion values of 48° for the optoelectronic system and 59° for the inertial measurement units were found. Conclusions: This study shows the challenge of comparing results of different kinematic motion capture systems for complex movements while also highlighting inertial measurement units as promising for future clinical application in dynamic and coupled wrist movements. Possible sources of error and solutions are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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14 pages, 6728 KiB  
Article
Design and Modification of a High-Resolution Optical Interferometer Accelerometer
by Yuan Yao, Debin Pan, Jianbo Wang, Tingting Dong, Jie Guo, Chensheng Wang, Anbing Geng, Weidong Fang and Qianbo Lu
Sensors 2021, 21(6), 2070; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s21062070 - 16 Mar 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3187
Abstract
The Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) accelerometer is a new type of accelerometer that combines the merits of optical measurement and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to enable high precision, small volume, and anti-electromagnetism disturbance measurement of acceleration, which makes it a promising candidate for inertial navigation [...] Read more.
The Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) accelerometer is a new type of accelerometer that combines the merits of optical measurement and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to enable high precision, small volume, and anti-electromagnetism disturbance measurement of acceleration, which makes it a promising candidate for inertial navigation and seismic monitoring. This paper proposes a modified micro-grating-based accelerometer and introduces a new design method to characterize the grating interferometer. A MEMS sensor chip with high sensitivity was designed and fabricated, and the processing circuit was modified. The micro-grating interference measurement system was modeled, and the response sensitivity was analyzed. The accelerometer was then built and benchmarked with a commercial seismometer in detail. Compared to the previous prototype in the experiment, the results indicate that the noise floor has an ultra-low self-noise of 15 ng/Hz1/2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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17 pages, 2724 KiB  
Article
Standing Wave Binding of Hemispherical Resonator Containing First–Third Harmonics of Mass Imperfection under Linear Vibration Excitation
by Yan Huo, Shunqing Ren, Zhennan Wei and Guoxing Yi
Sensors 2020, 20(19), 5454; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20195454 - 23 Sep 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2776
Abstract
Due to complicated processing technology, the mass distribution of a hemispherical resonator made of fused silica is not uniform, which can affect the azimuth of the standing wave of a resonator under the linear vibration excitation. Therefore, the analysis of standing wave evolution [...] Read more.
Due to complicated processing technology, the mass distribution of a hemispherical resonator made of fused silica is not uniform, which can affect the azimuth of the standing wave of a resonator under the linear vibration excitation. Therefore, the analysis of standing wave evolution of a resonator with mass imperfection under linear vibration excitation is of significance for the improvement of the output accuracy of a gyroscope. In this paper, it is assumed that the resonator containing the first–third harmonics of mass imperfection is excited by horizontal and vertical linear vibration, respectively; then, the equations of motion of an imperfect resonator under the second-order vibration mode are established by the elastic thin shell theory and Lagrange mechanics principle. Through error mechanism analysis, it is found that, when the frequency of linear vibration is equal to the natural frequency of resonator, the standing wave is bound in the azimuth of different harmonics of mass imperfection with the change in vibration excitation direction. In other words, there are parasitic components in the azimuth of the standing wave of a resonator under linear vibration excitation, which can cause distortion of the output signal of a gyroscope. On the other hand, according to the standing wave binding phenomenon, the azimuths of the first–third harmonics of mass imperfection of a resonator can also be identified under linear vibration excitation, which can provide a theoretical method for the mass balance of an imperfect resonator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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16 pages, 336 KiB  
Article
Heart Rate Variability Analysis on Electrocardiograms, Seismocardiograms and Gyrocardiograms on Healthy Volunteers
by Szymon Sieciński, Paweł S. Kostka and Ewaryst J. Tkacz
Sensors 2020, 20(16), 4522; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20164522 - 13 Aug 2020
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 4178
Abstract
Physiological variation of the interval between consecutive heartbeats is known as the heart rate variability (HRV). HRV analysis is traditionally performed on electrocardiograms (ECG signals) and has become a useful tool in the diagnosis of different clinical and functional conditions. The progress in [...] Read more.
Physiological variation of the interval between consecutive heartbeats is known as the heart rate variability (HRV). HRV analysis is traditionally performed on electrocardiograms (ECG signals) and has become a useful tool in the diagnosis of different clinical and functional conditions. The progress in the sensor technique encouraged the development of alternative methods of analyzing cardiac activity: Seismocardiography and gyrocardiography. In our study we performed HRV analysis on ECG, seismocardiograms (SCG signals) and gyrocardiograms (GCG signals) using the PhysioNet Cardiovascular Toolbox. The heartbeats in ECG were detected using the Pan–Tompkins algorithm and the heartbeats in SCG and GCG signals were detected as peaks within 100 ms from the occurrence of the ECG R waves. The results of time domain, frequency domain and nonlinear HRV analysis on ECG, SCG and GCG signals are similar and this phenomenon is confirmed by very strong linear correlation of HRV indices. The differences between HRV indices obtained on ECG and SCG and on ECG and GCG were statistically insignificant and encourage using SCG or GCG for HRV estimation. Our results of HRV analysis confirm stronger correlation of HRV indices computed on ECG and GCG signals than on ECG and SCG signals because of greater tolerance to inter-subject variability and disturbances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Inertial Sensors)
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