Gait Symmetry Analysis with FMCW MIMO Radar

Monitoring gait symmetry reliably is crucial, as it is an early indicator of Parkinson's disease (PD). In this work, a method is presented to analyze gait asymmetries using a 24-GHz frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar in a nonclinical environment. The proposed method is validated by analyzing the gait of 60 people recorded in an environment that presents multiple challenges such as multipath, gait interruption events, and different trajectories, which cause aspect angle variability. This article presents algorithms to address these challenges to extract useful gait information from the radar data and discusses the performance of the proposed system, analyzing the ratio of correct feet identifications and the accuracy of the asymmetry gait parameters. It achieved a mean absolute error of the symmetry ratio below 8% for all gait parameters. This shows that the proposed system and algorithms are robust for both clinical and in-home implementations.