Under Armour E39

Even with a possible lockout looming, the National Football League still plans to have its annual draft of college players in April. With that said, the Under Armour Scouting Combing was held held in the last week of February for scouts to view potential draftees. What was unique about this combine was the new Under Armour E39 "bug." This device, attached to the player's Heatgear compression shirt and below his chest, is able to measure heart rate, breathing rate, skin surface temperature, and the accelrometry of the athlete. It does all this while transmitting the data to a computer wirelessly. Previously, several wires were attached to the players to measure such properties. Now, the E39 eliminates all that. The purpose of the device is to help players, recruiters, and trainers improve an athlete's physical capabilities. It can also guage, with a trainer's assesstment, the mental state of the player by his heart and breathing rate. Outside the realm of athletic's, another possibility for the E39, as one person commented is, "Future application for technology monitoring the elderly as well as transplant and heart patients." As for now, look for this technology to be adopted by other sports.