The effect of the geomagnetic field on the accuracy of estimating the gait path and gait parameters using toe-mounted inertial sensor is compared. We apply three methods: the recalculation method (RC), the Kalman filter method (KF), and the Madgwick filter method (MF). In this study, we examine how the geomagnetic field affects the accuracy of gait path and parameter estimation using the RC, KF, and MF methods. The RC method does not use geomagnetic sensor and determines the sensor posture in the immediately preceding swing phase using the sensor posture in the stance phase. An inertial sensor is attached to the toe of right foot to estimate the gait parameters and the walking path. The gait parameters are the stride length, toe height, and ankle joint angles (dorsiflexion/plantarflexion, abduction/adduction, and abduction/rotation).3D walking path is also compared during normal walk for two overlapping steps. The accuracy of the estimated parameters is compared with that of an optical motion analyzer. The experimental results show that walking parameters are unaffected by geomagnetism, but the KF and MF methods are affected by geomagnetism in walking path estimation.
NISHIMURA et al. (Wed,) studied this question.