Micro-IMUs network for helmet monitoring

Alessandro Frigerio, Francesco Braghin - Dip. Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano

Abstract

In Europe, as in any modern mechanised society, traumatic head injury is a major cause of death and disability. If we focus on accidents involving people riding a bicycle or skiing, a main role in reducing the occurrence of a head injury is played by helmets.

However, helmets do age, both due to thermal effects and micro-impacts, thus greatly reducing their capacity of absorbing kinetic energy. To be able to predict this accelerated ageing effect, highly integrated embedded MEMS inertial sensors have been designed for being easily inserted into helmets. Moreover, in case of impact, the implemented sensor net is capable of providing rescue teams with immediate information about the magnitude and location of the impact, thus helping medical diagnosis.

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