Capacitive Smart Floor

This individual research paper investigated improvements to the hardware of a capacitive sensing smart floor system used for device-free indoor localization and monitoring. The study focused on enhancing the robustness and reliability of the sensing hardware used in the CapLoc project by analysing issues such as parasitic capacitance, signal interference, and sensor cross-talk. A custom printed circuit board incorporating multiple capacitive sensing pads connected to a microcontroller was evaluated, with iterative hardware design improvements implemented to optimise measurement accuracy and system stability. The research also explored debugging techniques, signal integrity considerations, and data acquisition methods for transmitting capacitance measurements to a computer for real-time processing and analysis. This work contributed to the development of a more reliable capacitive sensing platform for applications such as human localisation, occupancy detection, and fall monitoring in smart environments.