An impact-detecting sensor system for hurling helmets with custom mesh networking for real-time concussion risk assessment across 100m+. Product of the Patch 2024 Youth Accelerator.
Concussion in contact sports is a serious and growing concern. In hurling, impacts can be severe but often go unnoticed during the intensity of a match. Existing solutions rely on Bluetooth with ranges under 20m - far too short for a playing field. ForceField solves this with a custom mesh network that extends range through every player on the pitch.
Built from scratch for ESP-32s after existing libraries proved inadequate. Each player boosts the signal, providing 100m+ range per peer with 6,000 datapoints per second.
ADXL375 high-G accelerometer and LSM6DSOX gyroscope capture both linear and rotational acceleration data at matched rates.
Impacts categorised using the Campolettano et al. concussion risk function, combining linear and rotational acceleration data.
React Native app displays per-player impact history, actionable graphs, and session data that can be recalled for medical review.
Several open-source mesh-network libraries were evaluated but rejected due to ineffective dynamic memory allocation on ESP-32s. A custom protocol was developed where each node listens for a setup message that triggers peer-assignment, joining it to the mesh. Messages are chunked and tagged to identify the original transmitter and reassemble data correctly.
The result: 6,000 datapoints transmitted per second at 100m+ range per active peer - compared to competitors using BLE for less than 20m.