Need some input on this

[cornercamping]

an ITS helmet for motorcyclists.
5/10/04

A young graduate has developed a 'smart' motor cycle helmet that could help save countless lives every year.

Piers Tucker, a 23 year old graduate in Industrial Design and Technology from Brunel University, London has built advanced satellite positioning technology into a helmet and created a digital screen onto which is flashed the bike's speed and other safety-related information. The display means riders need never take their eyes off the road, even for a second.

"As soon as you take your eyes off the road, you're potentially causing a hazard," said Tucker.

The LCD screen measuring 2.5cm x 2cm appears to one side of the driver's field of view and shows, in addition to the speed at which the machine is moving, whether the direction indicators are on or off and what gear the bike is in. Tucker says his idea is based on the Head-Up Display used in fighter aircraft. A GPS chip is used to calculate the vehicle's speed in knots which is then converted into miles per hour. Information on the indicators and gears is transmitted to the LCD display by wireless signals.

When the indicators are on, the unit also makes a sound so that the driver is aware both visually and aurally. The prototype helmet - a second-hand racing helmet bought on an Internet auction site - is, says Tucker, the result of months of research in Brunel University's multi-media laboratories and experimentation in advanced simulators.

"I designed this helmet to save lives," said Tucker. "When you are riding a motorcycles at a fast speed it is difficult to concentrate on the displays on the dashboard and the roads at the same time. It takes about 0.25 seconds to look down, focus on a speedometer and re-focus on the road again. Éit can make the difference between life and death."

Department for Transport figures show that more than 24,000 riders and passengers of motorcycles were killed or seriously injured last year in the UK alone. The new helmet is expected to make a significant contribution to reducing this figure if, as hoped, it goes into general production within the next few years. Tucker is currently looking for a commercial manufacturer to take his idea forward.


Ê
Taken from: http://www.patrickhook.com/news/news166.html

I need some input on this for work.   More or less, if something like this was commercially available, and the helmet passed all industry certifications (i.e. Snell) would you buy one, and at what price point?  Assume the helmet would be something like an Arai type helmet in both build and quality?  Let's just say for arguments sake it was an Arai with this technology.  Also, if the system was universal and you could buy just the electronics and put it in your exsisting helmet.

Let me know what you think.....

Thanks

[cornercamping]

and for the techies on here:

The possiblities of a HUD system in a helmet are a reality.  The only issues of HUD in a helmet is the fact that HUD uses glass reflection and angles of the glass determine the visibility of the IR.  The only problem with a helmet is that Polycarb (visor) not only is flexible, but will more than likely distort the IR data displayed.  
Another issue is onboard electronics.   Since helmets, especially used in racing, seem to hit the ground quite often, securing the components so they can resist the impact of a crash is an issue.   Not to mention that fitting the components internally is going to be a major issue.  A "black box" on the outside of the helmet like a "Chatterbox" would be a more likely possiblity as for electronics containment, but then you run into the issue of things getting crushed during a crash.  Furthermore, potting the components even with an impact resistant potting compound wouldn't necessarily save the components during a crash.  There are tons of issues that would need to be explored on this whole thing, especailly with electronics placement.   The guy in the above article is attempting to use an LCD, but there is a major issue with that regarding visibility.  A HUD system would better fit this application.   The problem is the reflection issues.   i can't think of anyone that would want an LCD in their face on the street, or the racetrack.  it'll be cool, but then again distracting.  I had an onboard video system on my Ducati.  It had a camera mounted between the exhauts pipes what was a reverse image high resolution color camera.  Then I had a 5.5" LCD next to my tach.  This way, I could use that instead of mirrors.  The problem was that the LCD was more distracting than anything.   :-/
Another thing would be tapping the bike electronics to recieve the data.  Since I'm assuming nobody wants a cable between the helmet and the bike supplying the data, a spread spectrum RF signal would fit this application best.  The issue with that is going to be EMI.  How do you isolate the RF from picking up ambient noise from the bikes charging system?  Not to mention that you'd have to go thru FCC approval which is a pain in the ass because there isn't a RF radio on the market today that could support this type of application.  It would have to be a spread spectrum system more or less.


 ??? :-/

[cornercamping]

31 views and not a single comment  ???

[Sunny]

...................................................maybe.....................................












































no one wants to feed the troll................................... ::)

[hooter31]

what is going to stop BIG BROTHER from accessing the gps system and mailing you a ticket or following your moves without your knowledge,they have admitted they can do it with the GM on-star and listen to your conversations without you knowing >:(

[cornercamping]

what is going to stop BIG BROTHER from accessing the gps system and mailing you a ticket or following your moves without your knowledge,they have admitted they can do it with the GM on-star and listen to your conversations without you knowing >:(

Well, several things.   In all reality, they won't be able to "listen" on this type of system for several different reasons.  The "GPS" hopes are not going to happen for several reasons in an application like this.  GPS will not necessarily assist a rider in this application unless it's used for actual navigation purposes, which is at this point not even a discussion.  Inorder to utilize navigation, you need to provide maps, points of interest, ect.  This can't happen in this type of application for 2 reasons:

1. Navigation takes alot of hardware, which wouldn't and couldn't fit in a helmet or even be possible in a black box scenerio because NAV databases are too large for embedded applications.  The average NAV system requires 728 MB of ROM, and that isn't going to happen on a single board computer running a lower speed processor, that's why car NAV systems use DVD-ROM.   It's a ton of data.

2. There is no way to provide a graphical map using HUD.  HUD is a simplistic technology, and doesn't provide for "color graphics."

As far as OnStar is concerned.  They really don't use the data for law enforcement, but more or less for insurance.  What you don't realize when it comes to OnStar, is that when you sign the purchase agreement for a car that contains OnStar, you are allowing your data to be sold.  The buyers are insurance companies.  They are the one's that pay for your first year of "FREE" service.   Insurance companies use the data to base insurance rates by territory.   Now, not saying that law enforcement can't, but they usally don't without a court issued warrant.  Finacne companies also use OnStar for repo. for non-payment of your loan.   Expect by 2009 ALL GM manufactured vehicles will have OnStar standard regardless of options.   They are making alot of money on it, and are guaranteed payment by the big insurance agencies.   OnStar will become FEE FREE one day, because Corporations will pay for you to have it.

But, in answering your question about "Big Brother" accessing the system on your bike, chances are it's not only not likely, but not possible because it's a short range RF network.   Maybe 10 ft. of range from the black box on the bike to the helmet.  Plus, it's encrypted using Rolling Code technology so only one helmet can access the black box on the bike.  Kind of like how car alarm transmitters work.  Can't really clone a transmitter like in the past unless you have some serious electrical testing devices.  Cops aren't going thru that, but maybe the Feds would if they had reason.

[cornercamping]

Also, it's easy to disable OnStar.  Very easy, without causing any mechanical or electrical reprecussions in the vehicle.  It is also NOT illegal because it's your property.  Disabling OnStar in a vehicle is no different then changing the radio for your amusement.  THey can't do anything about it.  If anyone is interested in disabling their system, let me know and I will point you in the right directions to do it correctly.  It's not hard at all.  Don't even need any tools to do it.  Takes about 15 minutes.   Once you disable it, it will not work at all.   What you are doing more or less is disabling the cellular radio so the data can't be transmitted or recieved.

[EmerWil]

maybe no one responded because no one wants to help you? The last time you had some "big plan" you promised a wireless networking card to "anyone that wanted to try it".  What ever happened with that project?

Maybe because u've told so many lies that no one believes a word u say anymore. And since it seems all you do is take why would people keep coming back for the same lies and abuse?

Just my personal observation...

[cornercamping]

maybe no one responded because no one wants to help you? The last time you had some "big plan" you promised a wireless networking card to "anyone that wanted to try it". ÊWhat ever happened with that project?

Maybe because u've told so many lies that no one believes a word u say anymore. And since it seems all you do is take why would people keep coming back for the same lies and abuse?

Just my personal observation...

Our network card has been manufactured.  The problem doesn't sit on our side.  It sits on AT&T's side.   The network card uses a service called UMTS.  The problem is that AT&T didn't launch the UMTS service as they were suppose to, and only a handfull of area's actually support the service.  So, until AT&T is done with their network upgrades and such, the cards are worthless because there isn't a network to support them.  

As far as everything else, I"m just asking "consumers" what they think about this.   I'm not saying we'd even make such a thing, or anything else.  Just doing a write up for something and you guys would be the best source for opinions on this subject.  Pertains to motorcycles, helmets, saftey, and durability.  Who else to better answer these questions?   Street squids wouldn't necessarily care if it didn't have direcTV and Playstation capabilites.   How many street squids do you know that would care about things like suspension travel, shift points, ect.?

[cornercamping]

and so you know, the network card pilot is still scheduled to happen just as soon as it can technically.  Right now, only a few major downtown area's have the capbility.  That doesn't do us any good.  

[cornercamping]

Let me explain why I'm doing this and maybe that will help  :-/

The electronics industry is very ahead of the game.   The reason technology companies have to do market analysis is to see if future or current technology is even offering.  For instance, in 1999 Hitachi introduced the first plasma television ever at the cost of $37,000.00   In 2002, they decided to make it publically available.  The first production version was offered in January of 2002 at the CES show. Even though it could have been manufactured in 1999, it wasn't because the cost was so high, they doubted that it would be even worth building.  If you go to a Best Buy today, all you see are plasma televisions, and they start out at a few thousand.   The same thing applies to this.   It comes down to even though it can be built, and eventually will be, when is the "consumer" ready to buy it, and at what price is it logical for a company to invest in designing and manufacturing.   Thus, I'm asking these questions, primarily because this helmet idea falls into the work I do.   Chances are, it will be about 5-8 years before the first version would be available, but tons of investors are already sinking money into it.  The whole question of "when are they ready to buy it" always needs to be answered.   Just like camera phones.  The first camera phone was built in 1996 by Motorola.   It would have cost $4K for that phone when it was first designed.   Now, you can get them for free 9 years later.   As technology evolves, so does the consumer.   The whole point of a company being sucessful is knowing when it's time to move it to the commercial level.  There are thousands of products that could be built today.  But is it worth it?  That's why I'm asking.

[Old808]

I think that if you were really doing market research, you wouldn't be doing it here.

Firstly, your sample will be too small and not representative of your target customer base.  And that would be safety-conscious street riders.  Why?  Because if you actually raced, you would know the speedometer is useless to racers.  And because racers keep their heads down under acceleration, they don't have to take their eyes off the track to glance at the tach for upshifts.  So what other crucial information do you propose to sell them?  Water temperature?  Get serious.

Secondly, you would probably have a better-prepared questionnaire which would provide you with some measurable data.  After all, the goal would be a commercially-successful product, wouldn't it?  Asking people what they would pay for it, for example, would probably not get to anything useful.  Answers will be all over the place.  Each actually had an idea of how cheaply you can manufacture the product and how much you would need to charge for it, and then submitted a price to your respondents for evaluation, you might get something useful.

I could go on, but essentially what I am saying is that this "market study" looks to me like another attempt at getting some attention.