-
DASA has
launched a new Themed Competition: Understanding Whole Body
Vibration
- Funded by Defence Medical Services and Defence Science and
Technology
- Up to £2.5 million in funding available for innovative
technologies and ideas that may be used as the basis for further
research into whole body vibrations
- The deadline to submit a proposal has extended to midday 24
January 2023
The Defence and Security
Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to
launch a new Themed Competition, Understanding Whole Body
Vibration. Run on behalf of the Defence Medical Services and
Defence Science and Technology, this competition seeks to enhance
our understanding of whole body vibration (WBV), including its links to injury
and effects on performance.
Key dates and funding
£2.5 million (Exc. VAT) funding is available for this Themed
Competition. DASA expects to fund
between 1-3 proposals.
The deadline to submit a proposal is midday on Wednesday 24
January 2023 (GMT).
Do you have a disruptive
idea or concept? Read the full competition document and submit a
proposal.
What is whole body vibration?
WBV is defined as
vibration transmitted to the whole body, typically from a
supporting surface or platform, including vehicles and machinery.
Service personnel across Front Line Commands may experience
WBV during training and
operations, for example, when occupying wheeled or tracked
vehicles that traverse rough terrain, or aboard small boats.
Testing new platforms and vehicles also often involves exposure
to WBV.
Injuries that can be caused by WBV are not clearly defined and are
often non-specific, for example, neck pain, back pain or
dizziness.
These symptoms are difficult to attribute directly to specific
levels of WBVexposure.
Similarly, evidence that details the short-term impact of
WBV is often anecdotal.
To help Defence better understand WBV, we require detailed, robust
epidemiology and experimentation and modelling of WBVeffects.
The proposals submitted to this Themed Competition will help
address the following outstanding WBV questions, such as:
- what is the scale of injury related to WBV and how does this affect
deployability?
- how does vibration cause musculoskeletal injury?
- what happens when vibration and shock are combined with other
environmental factors such as heat, cold, noise, altitude, etc.?
- how do we measure WBV exposure at the individual
level?
- what are the short-term effects of exposure to WBV and how do they differ for
males and females?
Whole Body Vibrations: Challenge areas
This competition has 3 challenge areas.
Challenge 1: Define the size and nature of the
problem
This challenge area seeks definitive data on the prevalence and
severity of WBV in
service personnel working with armoured vehicles or boats.
Ideas that may help solve this challenge area may include:
- machine learning algorithms to mine clinical databases that
establish patterns of injury in at risk groups
- mechanistic models that increase our understanding of how
WBV causes
musculoskeletal injury in males and females and how to predict
and prevent future injury
Challenge 2: Quantify exposure to WBV
This challenge area seeks to determine a dose-response
relationship between WBV and injury.
Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:
-
platform agnostic wearable sensors to evaluate personal
exposure to WBVand
shock
-
platform instrumentation that can capture and transmit
vibration and shock signatures for use in research and
development
Challenge 3: Establish the short-term effects of
WBV on performance of
duties
This challenge area seeks evidence for the effects of
WBV exposure on human
performance, such as visual tracking ability, cognitive skills,
and physical performance.
Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:
-
development of military-specific, validated outcome measures
that are sensitive to the influence of WBV exposure
-
technology that can reproduce experimental conditions of
vibration and shock signatures experienced by individuals
across different platforms
For a more detailed breakdown of this themed competition’s
challenge areas, read the full competition
document.
Webinars17 November 2022
This webinar will provide more information on the challenge areas
and how to submit a proposal. There will also be an opportunity
to ask questions in the Q&A. If you would like to get
involved, please register on the Eventbrite page.
Register
now
One-to-one sessions
A series of 15 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving
you the opportunity to ask questions.
If you would like to participate, please register for one of the
sessions below:
Submit a proposal
Do you have a potentially disruptive idea or concept that will
help the Defence Medical Services and Defence Science and
Technology understand WBV? Submit your idea and help
Defence better protect service personnel from the effects of
whole body vibration.
Learn more and submit a
proposal.
