Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Ambekar, Dhanashree
Language:	English
Published:	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2013
Subjects:	Electrical Engineering traumatic brain injury football concussion impact detection accelerometer
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377870605

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin13778706052021-08-03T06:19:39Z Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports Ambekar, Dhanashree Electrical Engineering traumatic brain injury football concussion impact detection accelerometer A concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury occurs due to blow on the head. During a concussion there is a jarring movement of the brain that causes a person to lose alertness and sometimes consciousness. Each year there are several concussions that go undiagnosed. Contact sports lead to repeated head impacts and blows to the head that can lead to concussions. Some studies prove that repeated concussions can have an irreversible impact on the brain leading to significant issues with attention, concentration, depression and even early death. Early detection of concussion and/or head impacts is critical for successful treatment. A lot of research is being done to develop devices that can detect head impacts. Most of these devices are bulky making them difficult to be fit in helmets let alone making them convenient for sporting activities that do not utilize a helmet (ex. Soccer, swimming, diving, cheerleading, etc.). Some of these devices also require proprietary software to interact with a computer or a tablet which limits their portability across multiple computing platforms. The goal of this research is to develop a prototype that can detect head impacts and provide information about the head impacts suffered by a player. The device should be point-of-care (i.e. easily used during play/practice activities) and useful across any platform. A compact point-of-care head impact detection system is developed in this system using PIC microcontrollers and accelerometers. The key features of the system are its ability to measure acceleration due to impacts in any direction and any orientation. The system can tell us the exact time and duration of impact. The system transmits data wirelessly to a laptop using ZigBee RF communication modules. This ensures that a large amount of data can be transmitted and stored on a laptop. The system is battery powered with a projected battery life of ~50 hours assuming the system is powered with a 9 volt battery. The system is also quite inexpensive and easy to use. The head impact detection system uses a PIC microcontroller PIC18F8722 at its core. The sensor module is implemented using Freescale accelerometers and a wireless communication module is implemented using Xbee wireless kits. The system is used to measure the acceleration during the impact and the time of its occurrence. An experimental set up was built to simulate head impacts and test the functionality of the system. Preliminary tests show that the system is able to accurately measure head impact accelerations. 2013-10-21 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377870605 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377870605 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Electrical Engineering traumatic brain injury football concussion impact detection accelerometer
spellingShingle	Electrical Engineering traumatic brain injury football concussion impact detection accelerometer Ambekar, Dhanashree Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
author	Ambekar, Dhanashree
author_facet	Ambekar, Dhanashree
author_sort	Ambekar, Dhanashree
title	Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
title_short	Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
title_full	Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
title_fullStr	Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
title_full_unstemmed	Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
title_sort	development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports
publisher	University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate	2013
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1377870605
work_keys_str_mv	AT ambekardhanashree developmentofamicrocontrollerbasedheadimpactdetectionsystemforcontactsports
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Development of a microcontroller-based head impact detection system for contact sports

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