pedar support

Find answers to your questions on how to utilize pedar

Overview
New pedar
pedar legacy Hardware (before 2025)
pedar legacy software (before 2025)

How to use the pedar

pedar is made for efficient, reliable in-shoe pressure measurement in research, development or medical scenarios. The system has been validated during demanding and complex applications that cover most use-cases. The state of the art measurement quality has been proven and published by all leading experts and journals. For unusual applications, we recommend to consult with our experts to prevent damage or biased data.

1. Prepare electronics, sensors and software

Inside the pedar box, you will find:

    1. Sender electronics (“plidar”) 2x
    2. Insole electronics (“connector”) 1x left, 1x right
    3. plidar cables 2x
    4. USB-C and Micro-USB cables
    5. WIFI router.

To prepare the system before a measurement:

    1. Charge the plidar electronics by connecting them with a USB-C cable to power-supply (recommended: 12W)
    2. Connect the WIFI router to a stable power supply
    3. Download “novel scientific studio” from Microsoft Store or Apple App Store

The devices turn off while connected to power, if they are fully charged.

2. Connect sensor and electronics

The pedar system requires 2 sets of electronics (plidar + cable + connector). Make sure to connect the correct side.

    • Make sure the left sensor is connected to the left connector (vis versa right sensor/connector).
    • Push the sensor inside the connector carefully by holding it on the plastic part. DO NOT BEND OR PULL ON THE LEATHER part of the sensor.
    • The label on the sensor should be on the back side of the connector (velcro hooks)

Each plidar device has a joystick with the following conventions:

    • IN
    • DOWN (OFF)
    • RIGHT 
    • UP 
    • LEFT

To turn on the device, push IN for 1 second. It might take 2-3 seconds until the system is on

To turn off the device, push joystick DOWN for 2 seconds. This does not work when measurement is running

To hard-turn off the device, push joystick DOWN for 25 seconds.

3. Setup WIFI

    1. After connecting the WIFI router to power, find the router in the list of available WIFi connections. The name of the router and the PIN code can be found on a label on the router.

    2. The pre-set name is plidarRouterC###.

    3. Connect to the router and enter the password c12345678.

4. Wear the sensors inside a shoe

Shoes influence the measurement. After inserting the sensors, make sure to “zero” to compensate the level of pressure inside the shoe.

    1. Place the sensor inside the shoe. Make sure to select the correct side and to NOT BEND THE SENSOR 90°.

    2. Thread the Velcro straps through the eyelets of the insole connector

    3. Fasten the insole plug around the ankle using the Velcro strap.
    4. Fasten the plidar electronics on the closed shoe laces by using the green rubber strap.
    5. Alternatively, you may attach the electronics to the Velcro ankle strap or the calf.

5. Connect the system

    1. Turn on the plidar by pressing the joystick in.

    2. Launch the app and make sure you are connected to the router

    3. Search for devices by clicking “refresh” and select the two devices

    4. Select or import the config file first. Make sure to select the correct one per device.

    5. Make sure, the device on the app is now “Ready”

If no device is found, check that you are in the correct network, that all network adaptors (e.g. VPN clients) are turned off, no ethernet cable is blocking mdns and the plidar devices are turned on. 

If connection is not responding or selecting a config file is not possible, make sure the devices are charged and connected.

 

6. Do a measurement

Before each measurement, make sure the battery is charged sufficiently.

The device requires a warm-up time of 60 seconds before taking the first measurement.

  1. Go to “Measure” tab and check that both devices are “zeroed”. If necessary Zero the device by lifting the shoe into the air and clicking zero while unloaded
  2. Click “Start” button on top right. It might take 2-3 seconds until all sensors start streaming data. Important: The streamed data is reduced to 30Hz. The measurement data is always stored on the device.
  3. Click “Stop” button when measurement is finished and Download the measurement. You can download the data later as well but we recommend to do it immediately.
  4. Delete the measurement from device. We recommend to delete all data from the device after each measurement.
  5. Go to “Archive & Analysis” to confirm the data looks as expected.

7. Download older measurement and transfer to Expert software

To download older measurements

    1. Go to “Device manager” and click the little settings icon on the top left of the device

    2. Select Internal Memory/SD Card Explorer and open the folder “data”
    3. Hover over the measurement you want to download and click download. This will download the raw, unsynchronized data.

To sync 2 measurements files (left and right) you need to download both raw files and the correct config files used

    1. Go to “Archive” and click “sync pedar raw files”. Select the raw files and the correct config files
    2. The data is processed and placed in your archive

To transfer data you need to open the measurement in Archive and select “convert to” on the top right. To transfer data to pedar Expert, you need “.sol” files. Here you can also export the ASCI data. Be aware, that you can only export pressure data as ASCI as list of cells without geometry data.

pedar legacy hardware (before 2025, pedar-xf analyzer):

 

 

1. How to connect the pedar via Bluetooth

This is how to connect the pedar system to a Windows computer via BT:

 
  1. Connect the pedar unit to the battery and turn the system on.
  2. Disable internal Bluetooth via the Windows Device Manager.
  3. Connect the provided Sena dongle to the computer.
  4. Go to the Bluetooth device settings menu in Windows.
  5. Click Add Bluetooth or other device.
  6. Choose the Bluetooth device type.
  7. Wait as Windows scans for the device. It should be listed as novel pedar-XF by IWZ.
  8. Select this device. NOTE: it may be necessary to select the device multiple times as Windows tries to send an automatic pairing code. Typically on the 3rd time, the dialog will then ask for a passcode. 
  9. Enter the passcode pedarX (note the capitalization).
  10. Click Next and the device will be added.
  11. Click More Bluetooth Options and ensure only the Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area option is selected.
  12. Click on COM Ports and note the outgoing COM port number. This will be used in the pedar software.

Sena Dongle

How often do the insoles need to be recalibrated? How will I know when the insoles need to be recalibrated?

The insole calibrations should be checked at least every three months (depending on usage).

 
  • Place the insoles in the trublu calibration device, load the insoles through the load values up to 6 Bar.
  • Check that the values that are displayed in the software with the values that appear on the manometer.
  • If the values match within 5%, the calibration is okay. If the values differ by more than 5%, recalibration of the sensors should be done.

With the pedar-x, Bluetooth has problems establishing a connection.

 

  • A Bluetooth connection may fail for several purposes.
    • If the wrong COM port is entered into the Data Acquisition > Test connection window, the connection will not be established.
    • Check the outgoing port listed by right clicking the Bluetooth icon in the Windows system tray.
    • Select the COM port tab.
    • Make note of the outgoing COM port listed for pedar-x.
    • Enter this COM port in the Data Acquisition > Test connection window from the pedar online measurement window.

  • Windows occasionally drops the Outgoing connection (the connection used by the novel pedar software):
    • Right click the Bluetooth icon in the Windows system tray and select Show Bluetooth Connections.
    • Select the pedar connection and click the Remove
    • (After the pedar connection has been removed) select the Add button to re-establish connection (for details review the pedar-x manual on establishing Bluetooth connections).
  • The Bluetooth connection may fail because the middle dip switch on the back of the pedar-x analyzer is in the fiber optic cable measurement position (down position):
    • With the analyzer turned off, set the dipswitch in the up (Bluetooth) position.

    • Switch the analyzer on, wait approximately 30 seconds, test connection in the pedar online measurement software with the Outgoing COM port number listed in the Bluetooth software.
 

I am receiving dropped frames during collection. How can I improve the Bluetooth connection between my pedar analyzer and my Bluetooth dongle?

To improve the signal transmission between the pedar analyzer and the Bluetooth dongle:

 
  • ensure that there is a clear path (no visible obstructions between the Bluetooth dongle and the pedar analyzer antenna). A USB extension cable (up to 5 meters) can be used in conjunction with the Bluetooth dongle to allow the Bluetooth dongle to be placed on a tri-pod or other pole to position the Bluetooth dongle in an unobstructed view with the pedar analyzer.

 

  • (You may also be receiving interference from wireless networks in the area.) Disable the wireless network card within the computer during data collection.

Only the bottom half the insole sensors are appearing (working) when I try a data collection or calibration. The rest of the insole sensors show as time outs (TO).

 

 

Check if the insole connector is inserted into the insole cable connector correctly. The R on the right insole connector must line up on the same side as the R on the right insole cable connector and the L on the left insole connector must line up on the same side as the L on the left insole cable connector

Battery Level indicator LED does not go off:

It helps to do some refresh cycles with the charger.

That will work if you have an Ansmann ACS110 charger.

The steps would be:

  1. Connect the charger to the power source.
  2. Connect the battery to the charger and wait until the charger say its fully charged.
  3. Disconnect the battery – wait until the charger has been reset – connect the battery again.
  4. During the test period of the charger press the yellow button until the yellow LED goes on.
  5. The charger will now discharge the battery and automatically fully charge it . Please wait until the charger say the battery is fully charged.
  6. Redo this procedure 3-5 times.

Note that this will take some days. The charger must be connected all the time to the power source, any interruption of the cycle should be avoided.

pedar software:

 

 

How do I increase the sampling rate above the maximum sampling rate of 100 Hz for both insoles (198 sensors) with the pedar-x?

The maximum sampling rate for the pedar analyzer is 20,000 sensors per second. If the number of sensors collected from is reduced, the sampling rate can be increased:

 
  1. To increase the maximum sampling rate, the number of sensors collected from must be reduced.
  2. To increase the maximum sampling rate, select the insole configuration from the insole configuration dropdown menu Select Data Acquistion – Define sensors to be scanned.
  3. Delete all the masks present (3rd icon from the right).
  4. Select one of the eight masks to the left of the insole graphic.
  5. Select the Rectangle drawing tool (4th button from the left): Left click and hold, then move mouse over the sensors that you would like to include. Multiple areas can be selected this way.
  6. Click the Download all masks button (1st button from the right).
  7. Save the new configuration (.mfg). After saving, a small window will appear that allows adjustment of the sampling rate. Select sampling rate and click Download. Unload each insole when prompted and click the red record button. Check the pedar analyzer if during the measurement no red error LED is on. – If red LED was on, reduce the sampling rate.

The settings that I select from the menu on the pedar-x measurement screen (e.g. COM port settings, Automatic scale on graphs, Error code settings, MVP options, etc.) are not saved when I exit from and reopen the software.

 
  • After selecting the desired measurement and display options, before exiting the software, select File.
  • Exit with storing changes. The settings will be saved, and you will not be required to select the changes the next time you open the program.

I am concerned that the pedar-x analyzer will go out of range of the Bluetooth dongle attached to the PC. Can anything be done to ensure that I do not miss data during data collection?

  • Insert the SD card to the pedar analyzer, which is configured for the insole size you are going to use.
  • Select to collect both to the SD card in the analyzer and to the PC memory:
    Data Acquisition --> Mode --> Online + SD card.
  • Select the correct insole configuration from the drop down box on the pedar-x measurement screen.
  • After recording, select File – Open SD card, to access the recorded data. They will be listed with their recording time, and will be without missing frames.
 

Could you explain choices for the Mean Value Picture (MVP) under the Options menu?

There are three options for the MVP calculation: over all frames, only over loaded frames, and only over loaded sensors:

 

 

  • Over all frames: The mean pressure is calculated using all frames of data, even the frames with no pressure on any of the sensors. This will result in the lowest mean pressure of all the MVP options.
  • Over loaded frames: The mean pressure is calculated from only frames that had at least one sensor that registered pressure. All frames in which the sensor was completely unloaded will not be used in the mean pressure calculation. If a sensor was unloaded during a frame that other sensors were loaded, the zero value for that unloaded sensor will be used in the mean calculation. Each mean pressure picture option should be considered before using these pictures for review. If you have any further questions regarding these options or which option you should use, please contact novel electronics inc.

 

  • Over loaded sensors: The overall sensor (left and right insole) and individual sensor mean pressure within an insole is calculated with only the frames and only the sensors that were loaded. No zero pressure values will be used in the mean value calculation.

I can’t open the program and got this error message, but the file is availabe in the folder:

This error is caused by a corrupted cfg file of the pedar software. The cause may be a messy termination of this software, perhaps due to a crash or something similar.

To solve the problem,

  • Please make a backup copy of the [C:/novel] directory.
  • Uninstall the pedar software only.
  • Then please check if there are any configuration files (*.cfg) left in the directory (C:/novel/novsyst/pedarx/mfg) and delete them. You should not delete the remaining directories, as they contain your mat configurations.
  • You can now reinstall the pedar software in the latest version you have and the program should start again.