Wearable nanosensor system for monitoring mild traumatic brain injuries in football players

Mouli Ramasamy; Vijay K. Varadan

doi:10.1117/12.2219516

15 July 2016 Wearable nanosensor system for monitoring mild traumatic brain injuries in football players

Mouli Ramasamy, Vijay K. Varadan

Proceedings Volume 9802, Nanosensors, Biosensors, and Info-Tech Sensors and Systems 2016; 980218 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219516
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Abstract

Football players are more to violent impacts and injuries more than any athlete in any other sport. Concussion or mild traumatic brain injuries were one of the lesser known sports injuries until the last decade. With the advent of modern technologies in medical and engineering disciplines, people are now more aware of concussion detection and prevention. These concussions are often overlooked by football players themselves. The cumulative effect of these mild traumatic brain injuries can cause long-term residual brain dysfunctions. The principle of concussion is based the movement of the brain in the neurocranium and viscerocranium. The brain is encapsulated by the cerebrospinal fluid which acts as a protective layer for the brain. This fluid can protect the brain against minor movements, however, any rapid movements of the brain may mitigate the protective capability of the cerebrospinal fluid. In this paper, we propose a wireless health monitoring helmet that addresses the concerns of the current monitoring methods - it is non-invasive for a football player as helmet is not an additional gear, it is efficient in performance as it is equipped with EEG nanosensors and 3D accelerometer, it does not restrict the movement of the user as it wirelessly communicates to the remote monitoring station, requirement of individual monitoring stations are not required for each player as the ZigBee protocol can couple multiple transmitters with one receiver. A helmet was developed and validated according to the above mentioned parameters.

Citation Download Citation

Mouli Ramasamy and Vijay K. Varadan "Wearable nanosensor system for monitoring mild traumatic brain injuries in football players", Proc. SPIE 9802, Nanosensors, Biosensors, and Info-Tech Sensors and Systems 2016, 980218 (15 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2219516

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