Modeling and exploration of an active helmet design

Thousands of mild traumatic brain injuries (mBTI´s) occur in US football each year. In some instances, injuries are very serious. New NFL rules are an attempt to address this problem. Of interest is whether an active helmet design, employing feedback, can also reduce the indicidence of mBTI´s in football. Medical evidence and research suggests that peak center of gravity (CG) head acceleration is well correlated with onset and severity of mBTI. In this paper, an active helmet design is introduced, modeled, and explored from the perspective of using control to reduce maximum CG head acceleration during a typical football impact.