Mission
The Live Fire Test and Evaluation (LFT&E) community of the Department of Defense (DoD) has a requirement for a test, analysis and evaluation capability for assessing the probability that a mounted Soldier will experience a skeletal injury when subjected to the vertical accelerative loads that are caused by an under-body blast (UBB). This capability will be comprised of a new anthropomorphic test device (ATD) system that is purpose-built for the Title 10 LFT&E environment and associated biomechanics data and analysis tools. This new capability, and the knowledge upon which it will be based, will have far-reaching impacts on the overall materiel and medical communities.
The need for this test capability arises from the statutory requirement to evaluate Soldier survivability in ground vehicles that face UBB threats and the inadequacies of the current injury assessment capability. The current capability is based on an ATD and injury criteria that have been derived from automotive crash safety testing, and it has both operational shortcomings and biomechanics gaps. As a result, current injury assessments lack adequate resolution and scientific validity.
Description
The Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) ATD consists of two major components -- the anthropomorphic manikin and the Instrumentation and Data Acquisition System (IDAS). The manikin will be constructed to simulate the appearance and necessary anatomical features of a Soldier to appropriately simulate the human response in the UBB environment. The manikin will be constructed of both machined metals and polymer materials and will be outfitted with measurement devices to quantify the response to UBB loading in various regions of the ATD. These measurement values will be used to assess the probability of injury using specifically developed Injury Assessment Reference Curves (IARC), which is a 3-D printed representation of a WIAMan ATD.
The IDAS consists of numerous sensors including temperature sensors, single and multi-axis accelerometers and load cells, and six degrees of freedom (6DOF) sensors. In specific locations throughout the WIAMan ATD, load-cells and 6DOF sensors are designed to accept the mounting of the data acquisition system in an integrated package. Communication and control of the data acquisition systems are provided by distribution hubs also located throughout the ATD that are in communication with a master system distributer located on the ATD thoracic-spine. An umbilical providing communication, power, and ground is connected to the master system distributor and routes off-board the ATD at the rear of the neck. When multiple ATDs are employed, an external system distributor may be connected to each umbilical for common power, communication, and timing distribution and status aggregation. User control and data retrieval of the ATD IDAS are provided by a software-driven remote client physically located separate from the ATD.
System Interdependencies
None
Foreign Military Sales
None