developing a tool to monitor and help prevent concussions Instrumented Football Helmet Development Team Joseph Jackson (ME) Adam McCauley (ECE) Shawn Kachnowski (ME) - Team Leader Matthew Wellner (ECE)

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Background Information Since 1945, there has been at least one football fatality each year In the NFL an average of about four concussions per weekend occur 250,000 of the 1.5 million high school football players in the US will suffer a concussion per year

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football State of the Art SIMBEX HITS System  Documentation published May 2005  Current HITS System Helmet costs $2000 per helmet  Has been in development for two years and is currently being tested Our goal was to create a simpler and cheaper product that will be available to a wider range of athletes

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Importance of Development Many less severe concussions often get overlooked because they do not cause significant short term damage However, research has shown that athletes with a concussion history are more prone to future severe concussions By knowing when less severe concussions occur, serious future concussions can be prevented Having empirical data that confirms serious head trauma improves diagnosis accuracy

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Objectives and Functional Requirements Keep Costs Low (Double Cost of Helmet) Read head acceleration with reasonable accuracy (±1 G) Must be easily implemented into a current helmet model Must work within given temperature range (0 o – 150 o F) Must have a substantial battery life (3 hours minimum)

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Other Functional Considerations Amount of impact electronics must withstand (min: 80 G’s) Comfort after Integration of Electronics  Device should be transparent to user The electronics must be safely and securely held in place Placement of Accelerometer  What position will produce the most accurate results

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Design Process Searched market for state of the art designs Created a design on paper Manufactured prototype design Test and evaluate prototype

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Major Components Sensor: One three-axis accelerometer 4 MHz PIC Microprocessor: Controls data collections Output Writer/Standard Memory Card: Records data Battery: Powers the circuit for the duration of one game Linear Spring: Maintains accelerometer contact with head End-User Software: Determines the severity of an injury or detects potential problems

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Accelerometer Considerations How many accelerometers?  Single  Multiple Acceleration threshold

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Challenges Interfacing the various electronic components Accuracy to cost ratio must remain reasonable Packaging of the product into the helmet  Circuit must remain small enough to fit  Circuit must be robust Use of software to read collected data

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Circuit Design - Schematic

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Circuit Design - Prototype

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football System Software - Microcontroller Accepts three simultaneous analog inputs from the tri-axial accelerometer Analog-to-Digital conversion Forwards converted data to SD Card

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football System Software – End User Individual player profiles  Possible to add player information such as height, weight and age  New stats can be loaded as they are obtained Data bank can be separated into active or past players Capable of reading filtered outputs to show major head accelerations

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football System Software Preview Player Statistics Window Team Listing Window Graphical Concussion History Window Data Management Window

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Product Integration Use of Styrofoam casing to protect accelerometer Casing fits securely into the helmet Spring is attached to accelerometer and outer shell

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Product Integration (cont’d) Printed circuit board is secure between inner and outer shells Channels are cut in inner shell to allow for the running of wires Memory card is accessible through spring loaded capability

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Product Integration (cont’d)

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Product Integration (cont’d) ComponentLWH SD Memory Card Printed Circuit Board40307 Battery Holders25 6 Accelerometer * all dimensions in mm

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Prototype Costs Accelerometer$31.25 PIC Microcontroller$ 7.15 Memory Card Connector $ 3.74 Battery$ 9.00 Memory Card (256MB)$29.50 Helmet$65.00 Implementation Materials$25.00 ~$ Cost of Parts (No Helmet) ~$110.00

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Social and Ethical Impacts Beneficial Outcomes  Use of this product can only help in the understanding of head injury  Safety of person is not compromised by the integration of this project  Reasonably priced to help provide usage for smaller organizations

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Product Future Integration into different helmet types Possible wireless capability Testing within helmet Use of software to help interpret results

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Conclusions Built a programmable circuit  Circuit can read input acceleration  Circuit can output that data to memory card Created computer software  Software can read memory card  Helps interpret data Project needs more testing, but proves that a low cost model entirely possible

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Thank You. Questions or Comments?