Technology has gone a long way in the recent few years and the consumer electronics' segment is not the only one to benefit from this advancement. More and more fields of expertise rely almost entirely on more and more sophisticated tech, so it was only normal for various devices to make room into different sports, either to monitor the activity on the field or to monitor the players’ health during a game, whether football, cricket or any other sport out there.

If the scientists at MIT have come up with a system that can actually track the moves of the players on a football field so that there are no irregularities during a game, now Hothead Technologies, in collaboration with Kennesaw State University, have developed a system that is able to recognize the early signs of heatstroke in players. They are currently testing an RFID-enabled helmet that tracks the body temperature of a player and promises to lessen dangerous instances of overheating.

 

Overheating has long been an overlooked issue, but due to several unfortunate events, scientists have decided not to put it off any longer. The most high-profile player to die from over-heating in the NFL is Korey Stringer, an offensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings. He died in 2001, a day after collapsing from heatstroke during an especially hot and humid day practicing at his team’s training camp facility.

 

Younger players at the high school level have also died, and they all had the same symptoms: dizziness, body weakness, and heavy breathing. But the culture of football sometimes makes it hard to distinguish between tiredness and illness – players often practice for hours without a proper on-field check-up.

 

The HOT (heat observation technology) system from Hothead is betting that a real-time observation plan for players will make a difference. Basically, this system embeds an RFID tag with integrated thermal thermometer and a transmitter into a football helmet to broadcast stats to a handheld PDA up to 500 meters away which trainers would use to monitor athletes’ temperature. The software side of the system tracks and monitors each individual person for specific tracking and analysis.

 

As already mentioned, the HOT system is currently being tested, but its developers are very positive about its results, so, hopefully, it will not only prevent death, but also improve the performance of football players, by constantly monitoring their health.

 
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