Ground reaction forces generated during normal walking have recently been used to identify and/or classify individuals based
upon the pattern of the forces observed over time. One feature that can be extracted from vertical ground reaction forces
is body mass. This single feature has identifying power comparable to other studies that use multiple and more complex features.
This study contributes to understanding the role of body mass in identification by (1) quantifying the accuracy and precision
with which body mass can be obtained using vertical ground reaction forces, (2) quantifying the distribution of body mass
across a population larger than has previously been studied in relation to gait analysis, and (3) quantifying the expected
identification capabilities of systems using body mass as a weak biometric. Our results show that body mass can be measured
in a fraction of a second with less than a 1 kilogram standard deviation of error.
Keywords body mass - biometric - ground reaction forces - gait