Pressure sensing system to the final of Swedish Embedded Award

Mon 09 Oct 2017 14:05

On Wednesday, STC researchers Johan Sidén and Jawad Ahmad went to Stockholm to present their contribution to the Swedish Embedded Award. Together with the partner company Permobil they have developed a pressure sensor system that register how the pressure is on a chair cushion and can alarm when too long and unilateral pressure accrues.

Trycksensorer
PhD-Student Jawad Ahmad holding the display of the pressure sensing system.

See all contributions to Swedish Embedded Award

 

Introduction

This work addresses a pressure sensing system for wheelchair seats with the overall objective of preventing pressure ulcer. The system uses low-cost printed electronics to extract pressure distribution of a seated person. The data is used in a sitting posture recognition algorithm that for example can be used to encourage the person to change position.

Key Design Features

• Applicable for large areas
• Relatively high accuracy
• Cost reduction
• Fast manufacturing
• Measurement scalability
• Comfort for users
• Real-time data presentation of pressure points
• 16 dedicated ADC channels in read-out circuit
• A scanning rate of 77 Hz for data presentation
• Wireless data transmission.
• Data storage
• Sitting posture recognition algorithm
• Capable of taking actions based on sitting time

Target Groups

• Physically impaired persons
• People sitting in office chairs for longer periods
• Long route drivers
• Programmers and gamers

Results

• Cost efficient
• Thin and flexible
• Easy to implement
• Integration of multiple sensors
• Robust and a good lifetime

Conclusion

• Achieved posture recognition accuracy above 86 %
• Stable and robust
• Suitable for monitoring of pressure data and its runtime presentation

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The page was updated 2/22/2018