From the Journal of Neuroscience Methods

Football TelemetryGraduate Advisors: Aditya Balasubramanian, Jeff King, Brandon Gardner, Kausar Abbas, Prof. E. Nauman, Prof. L. Leverenz, Prof. T.Talavage Undergraduate Team: Cody Cousins, Brent Harman, Hyunwoo Kim, Christopher Mark, Shuozhengyang Wang, Shiyu Wang, Hanye Xu

Core Architecture Magnetic ImagingTeam Goals Apply lessons learned from previous designs into a

ultra-compact Behind The Ear (BTE) form factor that can be used to monitor impacts in any sport.

Store collected data in on-board flash memory and expand data collection options with an eye toward wireless radio communication.

Design an effective power system with charge management features that allow long cycles of use without recharging through efficient sensor operation.

Improve the temporal resolution of scans with an EEG device that can be used in parallel with magnetic imaging.

Provide relevant and understandable data to the Purdue neurotrauma group (PNG) to be used in studies aimed at quantifying the relationship between brain injuries sustained by players and the impacts they receive during a game.

3xAccelerometers

2xGyroscopes

Sensors

ATD BLOCK

3 4

TIMER BLOCK

GPIO BLOCK

Micron NAND Flash memory (16Gbit)

BATTERY MONITOR

POWER REGULATOR CONTROL

USB SPI

BLOCK

microcontroller

To PC

Throughout a session, the cranial acceleration of a given player is monitored using accelerometers in the BTE unit. The device continuously samples these readings at 2kHz until an impact occurs (determined by the threshold range). When such an impact occurs, the readings prior to and post impact are stored to Flash. After these events are stored sampling continues as before until the cycle is repeated.

Data from player scans can be improved greatly with the addition of real-time electrical information from an EEG. Combining these readings (the pattern of activity) with MRI (the location of activity) will empower researchers to more precisely correlate changes in behavior with changes in the physical structure of the brain. Electrical signals that precede shifts in location may also yield new predictive models if there is enough data.

Objectives: Reduce the cost, footprint, and power

consumption of a previously proven design. Search for new components that could reduce

elements of the functional block diagram.

Function Blocks

Power System

Lithium Battery

+5V DC

Charge Management

Battery Monitor

Microcontroller

Voltage Regulato

r

Peripherals

Lightweight Lithium Ion Battery - 3.7 V average output, 400 charging cycles, four hour average run time. Charging IC Charges battery from USB or AC adapter. Battery monitor initiates safe-shutdown sequence in the event of severe battery rundown.

PCB Layout

Proposed BTE PCB Layout Actual Size