SBIR Phase I: An Electronic Textile System for Gait Analysis

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will enhance scientific and technological understanding through the development of novel architecture, protocols, and applications associated with electronic textile systems. These emerging electronic textile technologies have been demonstrated to have the potential to create a mobile, cost effective alternative that would enable widespread use of gait analysis. The primary Phase I research objective is to address the feasibility of measuring several fundamental gait metrics using an electronic textile. In partnering with Virginia Tech, the company plans to build upon this research to construct an electronic textile capable of measuring these gait metrics and reporting the metrics to either the user or a clinician. The intellectual merit of this research lies in the design of the textile for operation across a broad segment of the population, the design of the algorithms for computing gait metrics based on sensor data, and the design and implementation of the overall software system. The outcome of this Phase I research project will be a garment capable of accurately measuring and reporting several gait metrics. The broader impact of gait analysis lies in the potential to prevent life threatening falls in the elderly population and the identification of pathological conditions in the general population. Within the company mission to design and market electronic textiles for health applications, thos technology has significant potential for improving physical therapy and creating garments for everyday use in mitigating the effect of falls. The intellectual property developed by the company is expected to be applicable to non-health related applications, including uniforms for first responders, navigation aids for the disabled, and integrated human-computer interfaces. In addition, a market for e-textiles could potentially rejuvenate the textile industry of the Southside region of Virginia. Manufacturing woven textiles has become a high technology, high- investment industry and is no longer labor intensive, an ideal combination for a manufacturing process to remain in the US. The addition of e-textiles to the product line of a company could further enhance the competitiveness of US textile manufacturers, leading to the retention and addition of jobs in the economically depressed Southside region of Virginia.