A Detailed Evaluation of the ATA Angular Motion Sensor in Realistic Simulated Crash Environments

A recently developed angular motion sensor, based on the laws of magnetohydrodynamics, has potential application in biodynamic research and was tested on the Naval Biodynamics Laboratory's (NBDL) horizontal accelerator, using the Hybrid III manikin as the test subject. The sensors in question were used to measure the manikin's head motion in three dimensions. Experiments were conducted at levels up to 25g in the frontal and oblique impact configurations, and included both indirect impact (no head contact) and direct impact of the head into a simulated windshield. Data collection was performed utilizing both narrowband (125 Hz) and wideband (1000 Hz) channels.

The analyses of the tests show that the new sensor compared very well with two different configurations of the 9-accelerometer arrays commonly used in impact testing. The comparisons were made at both the acceleration and velocity levels. Additional findings were that: a) wideband channels appear to be unnecessary for this type of testing, b) the two linear accelerometer arrays yield equivalent results, and c) the new sensors are insensitive to linear acceleration.