Julio Jones: UA E39 Video
Under Armour has introduced a new performance shirt, called the E39 ("E" is for electric), that I think gets athletes looking as close to a real life “Ironman” as possible. This shirt features a removable sensor device, called a "bug", just below the sternum area, to monitor an athlete’s physiological changes, including heart and breathing rates and accelerometry data, during workouts.
The "bug" holds a triaxial accelerometer, which measures acceleration and change of direction, a processor and can hold 2 GB of data. Under Armour partnered with a company called Zephyr Technology, a data software company based in Annapolis, Maryland, to integrate the "bug" technology into their shirt. The data collected by the device can be transferred via Bluetooth to mobile devices and laptops for analysis by scouts, trainers, coaches and anyone else interested in a player’s level of performance. Information from the triaxial accelerometer, for example, can be used to improve a player’s acceleration during short sprints or when changing directions quickly. During the combine, this data helped a coach improve a highly touted running back’s speed when running 20 yard sprints. The data collected revealed that the player was decelerating between 10 and 20 yards when he was taking his longest strides. The coach suggested he shorten his strides and he was able to continue accelerating through the full 20 yards.1,2
The technology provided by Zephyr has been used previously to monitor vital signs of the U.S. Special Forces during activity and was thus ideal to use at the NFL combine to show how this technology could be useful for athletes.3 Zephyr created their PSM Training System, which consists of the BioHarnessTM BT, a belt-like device worn around the midsection that captures and transmits physiological data via Bluetooth®, and their OmniSense Software, which is software that can be installed on laptops, tablets, or smartphones and provides graphical representations of the data collected by the BioHarness. The software can provide real time monitoring of up to 64 BioHarnesses simultaneously.4
The technology provided by Zephyr has been used previously to monitor vital signs of the U.S. Special Forces during activity and was thus ideal to use at the NFL combine to show how this technology could be useful for athletes.3 Zephyr created their PSM Training System, which consists of the BioHarnessTM BT, a belt-like device worn around the midsection that captures and transmits physiological data via Bluetooth®, and their OmniSense Software, which is software that can be installed on laptops, tablets, or smartphones and provides graphical representations of the data collected by the BioHarness. The software can provide real time monitoring of up to 64 BioHarnesses simultaneously.4
See a video below from the E39 creators that discusses the product and their goals behind designing the most innovative way to date to evaluate an athlete’s performance in real time:
A Look Inside the UA E39
The E39 is an interesting concept and again shows how technology is being integrated with sports to further improve an athlete’s performance. It is similar to the miCoach technology being offered by Adidas in that the data is captured while a player is working out and can be transmitted via Bluetooth to mobile devices or laptops for monitoring, but the E39 technology focuses more on the biometric changes of an athlete whereas the miCoach technology focuses more on the physical movements the athlete makes. Also the miCoach technology is now available to the general public, whereas the E39 shirt is currently only available to athletes and schools that have contracts with Under Armour, trainers that work with the company, and football teams that want to test the shirt. When the E39 will be available for the general public is to be determined.
