Technical report | Vehicle Anthropometric Specification

Abstract

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) will be acquiring a number of vehicles in the near future. When acquiring a new vehicle, numerous factors must be considered when determining the most suitable option for the ADF. One very important consideration concerns the anthropometric accommodation aspect of the workstation. Ideally, the vehicle should safely accommodate a wide range of male and female body sizes, maximising the pool of potential users. This report provides an athropometric specification that can be used to support vehicle acquisitions and upgrades when no suitable data on the relevant ADF population is available.

Executive Summary

In the near future, a number of new vehicles will be acquired by the Australian Defence Force (ADF). When acquiring a new vehicle, numerous factors must be considered when determining the most suitable option. One very important consideration concerns the anthropometric accommodation aspect of the workstation human machine interface. Ideally, the vehicle should safely accommodate a wide range of male and female body sizes.

While a number of ADF groups have been surveyed over the last decade, the last comprehensive tri-service anthropometric survey of the ADF population was conducted in 1977. Given the increasing size of the military population, 36 year old body size data realistically no longer accurately reflects the size and shape of the ADF population. Furthermore, no females were measured in the 1977 survey. Given this situation, it was decided to use a subset of the Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry Resource (CAESAR) anthropometric dataset to represent the dimensions of these groups (18-50 year old white North Americans with a body mass index less than 30) to create an anthropometric specification to represent ADF groups for which there is no current anthropometric data. This specification can be used when no suitable ADF data is available to inform the anthropometric fit aspects of new vehicles acquisitions and any upgrades of existing vehicles.

It is recommended that a comprehensive anthropometric survey of all ADF occupations be conducted to ensure future acquisitions accommodate an optimum number of personnel.