SUNO employee invents first motorcycle airbag safety system

Willam Belisle

A Southern University, New Orleans (SUNO) employee has invented the first motorcycle safety system, and won the Louisiana Business and Technology Center Phase Zero award related to his invention.

William Belisle, SUNO director of grants and research, won the Phase Zero Award for Louisiana Small Business for his U.S Department of Transportation (DOT) Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I Program proposal for his Motorcycle Airbag Protection System (MAPS). He received patent #6,017,076 for the invention in 2000.

Belisle says the invention is best suited for law enforcement agencies, security entities, emergency first responders and the U.S. Department of Defense. The MAPS will also provide safety and protection for consumers, and Belisle is confident that the system will surpass the helmet as a primary safety device for motorcycles.

“The Phase I proposal research will assist the U.S. DOT equip motorcycles with crash-causing data collection devices,” said. Belisle. “This research and the MAPS system system will reduce deaths and injuries in motorcycle crashes.”

The SBIR/ STTR Phase Zero Part I Program provides funds to Louisiana's small businesses in an effort to encourage more Louisiana applications for the federal SBIR/STTR Phase One funding programs.

Belisle is working with SUNO’s College of Business and Public Administration on the marketing and commercialization of the MAPS. He also has received a second patent (#6,683,776) in 2004 related to manipulating “floating” objects using magnetic fields, and is working with the University’s physics faculty on an upcoming research project. Belisle is the owner and chief science officer for Orleans Resource Center.