Helmet-mounted actuating system for motorcycles

Motorcycles are the most widely used mode of transportation in the Philippines with numbers increasing from year to year. Along with motorcycles' rising population, motorcycle accidents also are rising. Head injuries are the main cause of death among motorcycle users. One of the major causes why motorists suffer fatalities is due to non-usage of helmets. Wearing a helmet is a mode or protection for the drivers head and also a way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting from motorcycle crashes. In line with this situation, a system was developed to force the driver to wear the helmet in order for the driver to operate the motorcycle.The system that was developed has two subsystems composed of the helmet-mounted circuitry and the motorcycle-mounted circuitry. The mode of communications between the two is infrared and a personalized signal is used. For the helmet side, there were two sensors that were used to detect the presence of the driver, namely the Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) and the proximity sensor. The output of these sensors were fed into the input pins of the PIC16F628A, which will them send the corresponding Infrared signals through an IR RELD. The TSOP2238 IR Receiver that is mounted in the dashboard of the motorcycle then will receive this signal and output it to another PIC16F628A, which serves as the decoder of the system. Depending on the received signal, if the helmet is worn then the immobilizer will be deactivated, allowing the motorcycle to be opened, if the helmet is not worn then the immobilizer stays activated, not allowing the motorcycle to be operated.