Date of Award

12-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MSECE)

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Thomas M. Talavage

Committee Chair

Thomas M. Talavage

Committee Member 1

Eric A. Nauman

Committee Member 2

Michael D. Zoltowski

Abstract

Sport-related Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the major concerns for collision based sports athletes and their families. The ability to measure impacts on the head is imperative to monitor brain injury and prevent serious TBI. Recent research by the Purdue Neurotrauma Group (PNG) indicates that accumulation of subconcussive impacts may cause permanent neurological damage. Currently available commercial impact monitoring systems are designed as an event-based models which collect impact data above pre-determined acceleration thresholds. To track long-term effects of sub-concussive impacts, event-based modeling is inadequate. The PNG developed a biomechanical sports telemetry system that is capable of storing continuous-time accelerometer and gyroscope data. This study is focused on developing the wireless communication system to transmit and monitor real-time continuous impact data. Wireless communication was implemented by using low-power nRF24L01+ module, and smaller microcontroller was selected to minimize the sensor size. The analysis of wireless transmitted impact data was conducted in various environments and future work recommendations are provided.

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