Measurement of Perception Reaction Time (PRT) of Cyclists

Overview

ARCCA Inc. conducts forensic investigations of many types of accidents including bicycle accidents. Investigating a bicycle accident often requires understanding the Perception Reaction Time (PRT) of the bicyclist, which there is limited data for. ARCCA tasked our team with developing instrumentation that would allow investigators/researchers to measure the PRT of bicyclists at various hand positions and physiological exertion level, i.e. workload.

Objectives

To design, develop and prototype instrumentation that is small and portable so it could be used on the road and in the laboratory while riding a bicycle, capable of measuring and calculating quantities of perception reaction time and movement time while also recording physiological descriptors of exertion and heart rate. Additionally, the software interface will allow the user to set up various text matrixes and output the data in graphical form.

Approach

– Further understand PRT and the current practices being used in the field to measure it

– Develop in an Agile work environment having weekly team meetings with our sponsor, teammates, and professor

– Design a main solution that can be quickly transformed to test in either the lab or on a road

– Utilize an LED strip to provide the visual stimulus which is randomly presented by the Arduino to either the helmet or TV screen making switching between locations quick and easy

– Use a combination of force sensors to delineate movement time for different handlebar positions partnered with a reed switch on the brake lever to calculate PRT

– Incorporate a power meter and heart rate monitor to track the test subject’s physiological exertion level over time

– Utilize the LED strip as an indicator to signify the start and finish of trial

– Simplify the test results by using an SD card to transfer the data to ARCCA’s computers where our custom-built UI reads the raw data and cleanly displays each separate test result along with several graphs to show how the tester’s PRT can change over time

Outcomes

– ARCCA will have the ability to quickly and accurately carry out PRT studies during cycling with our product (instrumentation device?). ARCCA’s current methodology is limited with its traditional measurement techniques of counting video frames and using a camera flash for the visual stimulus

– Our design offers a complete, accurate, and easy-to-use solution. It calculates PRT to millisecond thereby cutting out the need for frame-by-frame video analysis. Not only will this significantly reduce the turnaround time, but it will also save employee resources. This will allow ARCCA to make great advances in investigating how physiological exertion level including fatigue, hand position, and environmental factors affect PRT.