Instrumented Football Helmet

Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and help prevent concussions Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisor: Prof. Dougherty Department of Mechanical Engineering Advisor: Dr. Chun Shawn Kachnowski Joseph Jackson Matthew Wellner Adam McCauley Importance of System Development Instrumented Football Helmet  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 developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Importance of Development (cont’d) Instrumented Football Helmet  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  Having empirical data that confirms serious head trauma improves diagnosis accuracy developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Circuit Design Instrumented Football Helmet +9V 7805 +5V +5V LDI086V33 +3.3V Chip Select +V 2 20 A0 A1 A2 PIC16F873A 13 Serial Clk 1KΩ 1KΩ 1KΩ 3 4 1 CS 2 DI 2KΩ 2KΩ 2KΩ 3 GND 4 3.3V 5 CLK 6 GND MMC SCK 14 4MHz SDI 15 SDO 16 Data 7 DO 8,19 18pF developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Importance of Development (cont’d) Instrumented Football Helmet  Monitoring of head acceleration is crucial to the safety of athletes  Having empirical data that confirms serious head trauma allows for more accurate diagnosis developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Design Differences Instrumented Football Helmet  Smaller Scale Development  Current HITS System Helmet costs $2000 per helmet  Our system will be made affordable to a wider range of teams  Cost of our instrumented helmet is roughly double the cost of a standard helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football QFD Diagram Instrumented Football Helmet House of Quality for Instrumented Football Helmet Imp ac t D ia So ft war e g no stic To ol Indiv idua l Stat isti c Play er s Me a sur Rec o ing rd Imp ing o f P ac t S la ye r's tatis tics Rem ov ab le M emo ry Stan dar d Si ze Ca rd Me m ( Sec o ure D igi ry tal) Do e s No t De Helm gra et's Prot de the ec ti o n Minim al Co Co ns s t fo truct r He lmet io n Cust ome r Im p ort ance Curr ent Cas e Mark s on et th e Pl an ned Desi gn Imp ro ve men t Ra tio Sal e s Po ints Functional Performance Strength 1. Withstand strong impact 2. Strong Circuit Interconnections Ergonomics 1. Lightweight 2. Confortable Fit 3. Maintains Temperature Electronic Features 1. Battery Life 2. Safety of Electronics 3. Fast Information Retrieval 4. Accurate Measurements 5. Maintainability 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 3 3 1 1 5 5 4 4 3 4 5 3 4 3 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 1.00 1.20 1.00 1.20 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.80 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.20 1.20 1.50 1.00 6.00 6.00 4.00 4.00 3.00 6.00 6.00 2.88 6.00 3.00 0.08 0.08 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.08 0.04 3 Non-Functional Requirements 1. 2. 3. 4. Cost to Performance Ratio Variety of Football Helmet Sizes Reasonable Development Time Data Transfer Capability 3 2 3 3 1 3 4 5 4 4 2 5 3 5 4 4 4 4 2.00 0.80 1.33 0.80 1.50 12.00 0.16 1.20 4.80 0.06 1.20 6.40 0.09 1.20 3.84 0.05 3 3 3 developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Rel a tive Wei g ht Imp ro ve m 3 = Most Important 2 = Moderate 1 = Low ent R atio Functional Requirements Instrumented Football Helmet  Withstand Strong Impact  Strong Circuit Interconnections  Must be able to maintain temperature  Must have a substantial battery life  The electronics must be safely stored developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Requirements Continued Instrumented Football Helmet  Information retrieval must be fast  3 Axis accelerometer will be used  The system must be capable of making accurate measurements  Must be maintained and repaired easily  Removable, standard size memory card developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Principle Components of System Design Instrumented Football Helmet “Sensory Web” Made up of one accelerometer 4MHz PIC Microprocessor Output Writer / Standard Memory Chip Flexibly Controls Data Collections Record Sensory Data Slim Battery Powering a Field Operable System for the long run Evaluating Software Determine the Severity of an Injury or detect Potential Problems developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Circuit Design Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Helmet Configuration Considerations Instrumented Football Helmet  Amount of impact electronics must endure  Sampling Rate – Degree of Accuracy  Space Inside the Helmet  Comfort after Integration of Electronics  Cost of the Helmet System  Positioning of Sensory Electronics developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Tri-Axial Accelerometer Instrumented Football Helmet developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Cost (including helmet) Instrumented Football Helmet       Accelerometer PIC Microcontroller Memory Card Connector Battery Memory Card (256MB) Helmet $31.25 $ 7.15 $ 3.74 $20.00 $19.50 $65.00 ~$150.00 developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football 1 or 1000? Instrumented Football Helmet  How many accelerometers are needed?  What are the benefits of many accelerometers  Increased confidence / Provides verification  Better representation of movement  Increased accuracy  What are benefits of just one accelerometer? (Our Design)  Easier system integration  Less power consumption  Less development costs developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Three Stage Test Plan Instrumented Football Helmet  Testing of individual sensory circuit  Testing of individual data processing software  Testing of the complete system of integrated components developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Future Hurdles in System Development Instrumented Football Helmet  Exact Analysis of extracted data  Acceleration Severity Index (ASI)  Head Injury Criterion (HIC)  Software Development  Cooperation with VU Athletic Department for system testing and implementation developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football Instrumented Football Helmet Questions? developing a tool to monitor and prevent concussions in football