Simbex: HIT System

Real-time Head Impact Monitor

The Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System™ measures, records and analyzes head impacts in the field

Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System is the first and only commercially available system that can measure head accelerations (impacts) in real-time during games and practices. The HIT System™ sensor/encoder package contains impact sensors, a processor, and a transmitter.

The HIT System transforms a helmet or headgear into a head-impact monitor. A microprocessor- based data collector receives impact data continuously from encoders that can be hundreds of meters away. The HIT System can monitor dozens of athletes or soldiers simultaneously. Our proprietary software analyzes those data and sends a warning via an alert pager if any impact has a potentially injurious profile.

The data collector stores all of the key signatures of each impact — peak linear acceleration, rotational acceleration, impact duration and location, etc. — with a time stamp for future analysis. The data can be accessed to compute commonly used head-impact severity measures (HIC, GSI, etc.).

The HIT System reflects more than a decade of research (supported in part by the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research at the National Institutes of Health).

HITS has been tested in the crucible of NFL, college and high school football stadiums and practice fields since 2004. Using the HIT System™, we have recorded over half a million impacts and corresponding data on head injuries.

Simbex and our research partners are using the analysis of these data to shed new light on the biomechanical causes of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). This research may lead to advancements in protective equipment or other injury reduction strategies.

Versatile Field Technology for Many Uses

HIT System technology has been used both commercially and for research in a wide variety of applications. Simbex partnered with football helmet industry leader Riddell in 2004 to launch Sideline Response System™ (SRS™), which monitors players during football practices and games and alerts sideline medical personnel when a significant impact occurs. Since that time, HIT System has been utilized in ice hockey, skiing, snowboarding, soccer, boxing, and equestrian applications, as well as in infant headgear.

In 2007, the HIT System was adapted for use in the Army’s Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) and Combat Vehicle (CVx) as part of the military’s ongoing effort to measure and reduce the biomechanical effects of explosions of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on soldiers in combat.

Ongoing Research and Development

A novel biomechanical measure of head impact tolerance to injury — the HIT Severity Profile™ (HIT-SP™) — was developed by Simbex researchers to better predict whether a single impact was more likely to be associated with a clinically diagnosed concussion.

HIT-SP combines several biomechanical measures that are uniquely measured with HIT System technology into a single impact score. Data on linear acceleration, rotational acceleration, impact duration, and, importantly, impact location, are combined together within the HIT-SP measure.

The findings from this research were published in the April 2008 issue of Neurosurgery. Current work on the biomechanics of mild traumatic brain injury can be futher investigated at our Bioengineering Research Partnership site.

Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System™ is another active life solution from Simbex.

For more information

Aaron Buck

Tel: 603.448.2367