Sensors to measure the step length during walking

Other Hardware Sensors
1

Hello,
I am new to this forum, I hope not to be off-topic with this post.

I would like to measure the step length during the walk and I am searching some ideas
to solve this problem.

I am not really an expert on sensors so I am trying to collect some information in order
to understand how to build a system for this purpose. Normally I use arduino with
accelerometers and pressure sensors embedded into shoes.

I was thinking that maybe a possible solution consists in finding the distance between
the two feet at every moment, and reading the distance values when each foot hits the
ground (such event can be detected by using pressure sensors).

I don't know if some sensors able to track small distances exist. In case can you
please give me a link where I can have some information?

Do you have any suggestion or hints to solve this problem?

Thanks in advance

2

Hi, just trying to help in something...
I can´t think how preassure could be useful since its a scalar, i guess measuring acceleration could be more useful since its a vector and in some way you should use this fact to discriminate high, i mean, how can you know if you are walking or jumping, could take the same time but clearly jumping doesn´t goes anyway...try to think in a triaxial accel for this.

3

acceleration seems to me the only option. not trivial but certainly doable.

you get the speed when you integrate the acceleration over time and

you get the distance when you integrate the speed over time - or acceleration over time squared (*0.5);

4

Why not use GPS and have the GPS tell you when you walked 100, 300 yards or whatever you feel gives better resolution and have the Arduino count your steps. Then a simple calculation gives you your average step size. GPS shields for Arduino are readily available.

If you use GPS, you maybe have no need for step size since you know how far you walked?

TT