Scientists develop shoe radar system so you never lose yourself anywhere

GPS has made life easy, but in the back of the mind we all know, it isn’t a foolproof system. There are glitches in the signals which can often be disguising. As a solution, researchers at North Carolina State University and Carnegie Mellon University have devised a shoe radar system that requires a portable radar sensor to be embedded to the heel of the shoe to keep a record of the wearer’s whereabouts on a small navigation computer that tracks the distance between the heel and the ground to keep the status updated.

shoe radar system

Using inertial measurement unit, or IMU (device that supplements GPS when satellite signals aren’t helping), to measures acceleration and deceleration to determine speed and distance traveled. Though IMUs can be faulty as well, the radar shoe system takes care of it by signaling the natural pause between steps. The system may not find a place in our shoes anytime soon, but the tech could be useful in military, mines, tunnels and other high-risk environments.

Via: CNet