Stride length estimation through the use of a single inertial sensor and the application of a method based on the detection of stability intervals

The use of Inertial Measurement Units has come up as a promising technique for estimating stride length during human gait. This research presents a new analytical approach to estimate this parameter. The estimation procedure is based on the identification and use of stability intervals before and after the swing phase of the sensor-mounted foot. The algorithm proposes to attach the inertial sensor at the forefoot of the foot. A database was built in order to validate the algorithm. The algorithm was including the data to the analysis in a gradual form in order to gain insight about the sufficiency of the data used. Several metrics were computed and the results revealed that the proposed algorithm exhibits a performance that outperforms the majority of the results reported by other studies so far.