By
SGT Sybelle Foxcroft
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Martin
O’Malley uses a laser scanner on SQNLDR Ludo Dierickx as
part of the bodymapping project.
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Photo
by LAC Casey Smith
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THE
ADF is seeking 2000 volunteers for a $4.2 million body-mapping
project to provide advanced technology for new cockpit design
and improved safety for pilots, crew and aircraft.
The ADF Aircrew and Crewstation Anthropometry Project involves
the 3D scanning of human body measurements, combined with the
scanning of aircraft dimensions.
Body mapping, technically known as anthropometry, is the measurement
of the size and proportions of the human body.
The information will help the ADF to develop recruitment and training
strategies. The first scanning sessions occurred in Adelaide
from August 30 to September 3. Others will take place in Perth,
the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne.
Director-General ADF Health Air Commodore Tony Austin said the
project was important because it recognised that some members
worked in a unique operational environment.
“ADF members whose workplace is the cockpit of an aircraft perform
a highly demanding and dangerous job, and they need to be working
at peak performance the whole time, executing their tasks safely
and effectively,” AIRCDRE Austin said.
“In order for them to do that, [the cockpit] has to be optimised
for that individual”.
The anthropometry project was developed because of the dramatic
physical changes in the Australian population. The last major
survey of this kind was done manually in the 1970s.
A new database will be created, combining information such as
physical and ethnicity changes, to enable updated data to be used
for recruitment and identification of pilots and crew for aircraft-type
and cockpit design.
The selection of volunteers aged 18- 30 will be aimed primarily
at university students. Project Director Dr Tim Olds said the
project would ensure researchers built the most up-to-date body
dimension database for this age group in the world today.
“What we will gather is a much clearer picture of the clusters
of body shapes that normally appear in the population group most
likely to be serving in the ADF,” Dr Olds said.
“The project also provides social spin-offs beyond military applications.
For example, the techniques used and data gathered may be used
to improve clothing sizes.”
The project, launched in Adelaide on August 24, is run by a consortium
led by the University of South Australia and includes the Australian
Sports Commission, Sinclair Knight Merz and the University of
Ballarat.
For more information about the project visit www.unisa.edu.au/caa.
