| General Dynamics is now an SAE authorized source for the CAESAR data set. See below for details on the full services we provide. |
The computer age has made everything we do more complicated and everything we use more complex. From more gadgetry in your car to more types of sunglasses, everything must fit better and operate more easily to keep up in this technical age.
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems' team of experts has over 120 years of combined experience using traditional anthropometry, 3-D anthropometry, advanced 3-D multi-object computer analysis, multivariate statistics, and other custom engineering methods to solve complex fit, performance and design problems.
Through a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA), General Dynamics is offering access to the Air Force Research Laboratory's Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design (CARD) Laboratory facilities, as well as its anthropometry services, fit and accommodation capabilities, and to its storehouse of historic and state-of-the art human body and human system data.
General Dynamics can offer the following services:
3-D Scanning
3-D scanning has recently emerged as a technology poised to improve consumer products such as clothing. General Dynamics researchers have been using 3-D scanning to improve the fit and performance of military clothing and equipment since the late 1980s. Examples include aircraft cockpits, helmets, night vision goggles, breathing apparatus, protective clothing, etc.
Cyberware laser scanners (head and whole body) are used to study the size and shape of the human body and related clothing and equipment. To verify and document the accuracy of the data, custom procedures were developed to calibrate the scanners prior to each project and after any disassembly or transportation of the scanners.
The General Dynamics research team has experience scanning the human body, clothing and equipment as well as analyzing the resulting data. Scanning resolutions vary from less than one millimeter with the Cyberware 3030/PS (head) scanner to less than four millimeters with the Cyberware WB4 (whole body) scanner. Scans can be saved in a number of polygonal mesh data formats.
3-D Human/Equipment Interface Research
3-D scanning has brought new possibilities to the process of designing products for human use. Traditional anthropometry provides only single dimensional metrics that cannot define shape or spatial relationships.
3-D scanning can accurately represent the size and shape of the human body and various clothing and equipment. Other tools, such as the Faro Arm®, can define the three-dimensional spatial positions of key points and controls in a cockpit or workstation.
Using custom software and multiple 3-D scans of personnel and equipment, General Dynamics researchers can study relationships between the performance of a piece of equipment and different subjects. This analysis can determine why a particular piece of equipment or clothing fits some subjects well and other subjects poorly. Such information can be used to refine a product design to achieve better performance, better fit, and accommodate a higher percentage of a target population.
In some cases, 3-D scans of humans and equipment can be used to customize the human/equipment interface, improving fit and performance. General Dynamics researchers have developed custom software to modify the shape of 3-D models of equipment to fit a particular subject. These customized models can be accurately converted from virtual to physical form using computer-aided manufacturing and/or rapid prototyping. These methods can be used to improve the fit of equipment when performance is critical, such as respirators, oxygen masks, helmets, etc.
Cockpit Accommodation and Mapping
To be successfully accommodated in a cockpit, a pilot must be able to reach and actuate all controls and see all that is required both inside (displays/gauges) and outside the cockpit (e.g., visual cues during takeoff or landing).
Body size will have its greatest impact on safety and flight operation when pilots of extreme size and/or proportion (large or small) are placed in worst-case emergency scenarios or certain flight situations. The potential impact of specific anthropometric measures (e.g., knee height, shoulder height, etc.) on performance in these scenarios is defined and ranked through interviews with experienced pilots, manufacturer specifications, and sometimes with flight tests. Using regression analysis on performance results of live subjects in the cockpit, this Fit-Mapping process produces the following: 1) the height of the pilot's eye to attain minimum adequate vision, 2) which controls, throughout their full range of operation, are the most limiting in terms of reach, and 3) the extent of mandatory clearance needed with controls (e.g., stick) and other cockpit surfaces. Given these requirements, the researcher can determine the accommodation envelope, or range of anthropometric proportions to ensure the intended flying population is accommodated.
While the use of Digital Human Modeling Systems (HMSs) is an attractive alternative to the traditional methods described above, we advise that any HMS undergo a verification and validation phase in the cockpit for which it is intended. Several years ago, in an attempt to verify and validate 5 current HMSs in an F-16, we found the initial posture and positioning of all the digital manikins in the seat was highly inaccurate, as well as their posture during reach. This was mostly due to the absence of modeling the deformation of the seated human body (thighs and buttocks), as well as the seat cushion. The traditional Fit-Mapping methods can be used to produce baseline results for HMS validation studies.
The General Dynamics research team recently completed a Fit-Mapping process that covers all the planes currently active in the USAF inventory. These Fit-Mapping methods used for the USAF aircraft can be applied to many different vehicle and workstation applications (commercial, industrial, or military).
Traditional and 3-D Anthropometry Research
The Air Force has been studying anthropometry since 1936 when Capt. Harry G. Armstrong first made some of the earliest recommendations about optimal stature and weight for pilots. Working in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s CARD Laboratories, General Dynamics researchers and engineers continue to improve the fit and performance of both military and commercial workstations, equipment, and clothing.
Using fit mapping techniques, 3-D anthropometry, traditional anthropometry, statistical models, and custom software tools our researchers can identify fit and performance problems, recommended additional product size(s) if needed, or even eliminate unnecessary sizes. These methods can contribute to a faster time to market and reduced product development cost.
General Dynamics can offer the following anthropometry research services:
- Training in Engineering Anthropometry
- Research (from Experimental Design to Reporting)
- Human/System Data Collection and Modeling
- 3-D Visualization and Analysis
- Accommodation Mapping and Case Selection
- Consulting
- Other Custom Anthropometry Research
In addition, General Dynamics also has access to the following resources to aid your anthropometry and design needs:
- A normative database of more than 13,000 3-D whole body scans representing the civilian population of NATO countries
- A normative database of 3-D surface scans of more than 1,500 head scans
- 3-D surface data of the head/equipment interface, with associated fit criteria
- National and international data from more then 50 large-scale traditional anthropometric surveys
- Cockpit (accommodation map) data
- INTEGRATE software developed by the CARD Laboratory to explore the best methods to visualize, analyze, and manipulate 3-D images
3-D CAESAR Data and Technical Support
General Dynamics is your one stop source for advanced 3-D technology from the CAESAR project. Through an exclusive agreement with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the entire 3-D CAESAR database, or just the data you need, is available on CD-ROMs or conveniently shipped on a single hard disk drive. Support is available from a team of General Dynamics' experts, including key members of the team responsible for the CAESAR project. This General Dynamics team can help with all aspects of your 3-D CAESAR data use, including determining which 3-D CAESAR models best satisfy your design requirements. Free samples of CAESAR data are available from the CARD Laboratory.
General Dynamics can offer the following services for users of the CAESAR data:
- Conversion from native 3-D scan format to any of the polygonal file formats listed below:
- AutoDesk (DXF, using dxf_3-Dface or dxf_polyface primitives)
- IGES (type 108, Plane Entity)
- Stereolithography (STL, ASCII or binary)
- VRML (WRL, version 1.0 or 2.0)
- Wavefront (OBJ)
- Inventor (IV)
- InnovMetric (POL)
- Conversion from native 3-D-scan format to non-polygonal file format, such as IGES type 128 or NURBS. This is a non-trivial, time consuming conversion that will probably be done a scan at a time.
- Data reduction: Reduction from full resolution to a lower resolution specified by number of triangles per scan, or tolerance (absolute or percentage). End-users may desire scans reduced to several levels for different purposes and/or design (lower quality scan) vs. production use (higher quality scan).
- Select (case selection) scans based on target population and selected design parameters. This will involve discussion with the end-user to determine design parameters and multivariate statistical processing of the data to identify scans to be used as design cases.
