WIAMan Technology Demonstrator Sensor Codes Conforming to International Organization for Standardization/Technical Standard (ISO/TS) 13499

The Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) Project is in the process of developing anthropomorphic test devices specific to the underbody blast environment and requires ISO Channel Codes specific to this test dummy.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-Multimedia Exchange task force is responsible for maintaining the specification for the multimedia data exchange format for impact tests outlined in ISO/Technical Standard (ISO/TS) 13499.1 This specification includes what is informally known as an ISO Channel Code that encodes the test object, location, physical dimension, and other information related to a physical measurement in a 16-character, machine-readable format.

There exists a standardized and published list of ISO Channel Codes for measurements taken with existing anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs). The Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) Project is in the process of developing an ATD specific to the underbody blast environment and requires ISO Channel Codes specific to this dummy. The ISO Channel Code is a string of 16 alphanumeric characters that are a composition of 9 position-specific substrings that encode details of a measurement. Each substring has an associated list of valid values.

The WIAMan ATD is a modern, high-channel count dummy that shares many attributes with other, newer dummies. It also breaks new ground in terms of volume of possible quasi-static measurements due to its embedded and distributed data acquisition system. In general, established position code selection has been used to create an unambiguous code string wherever possible. There are some cases, however, where this coding style breaks tradition in favor of more recent coding styles such as those used with the WorldSID.

Traditionally, many dummies have encoded certain anatomical locations associated with the MAIN LOCATION based on an informal descriptor, for example, the neck rather than the more formal cervical spine. If a formal code exists that describes the anatomical location it will be used in lieu of the less formal one.

Many areas within the WIAMan dummy have a concentrated number of uni- and bi-lateral measurement channels, such as the pelvis. Ideally, an anatomically specific code would be available to explicitly and unambiguously describe the anatomical location. In some cases, this level of granularity is already supported within the available codes, for example, the acetabulum or ACTB. Unfortunately, many anatomical channel positions needed by the WIAMan dummy are not included.

One possibility is that new codes be added to reflect the needed positions. Although 4 alphanumeric characters (26 letters plus 10 digits) can, in theory represent well over 1.6 million different locations, maintaining such an extensive dictionary represents administrative challenges. Fortunately, all measurement channels can be unambiguously identified using spacial qualifiers and therefore no new MAIN LOCATION codes are necessary. Recall that the ISO Channel Codes are primarily intended to be processed by a machine; thus, multiple spacial qualifiers are not expected to cause any additional burden in practice.

Similar to the Main Location substring, many dummies have used an informal descriptor in the Fine Location 1 position. For example, the UP in the code NECKUP represents the upper neck location in the Hybrid III Male dummy. Other dummies have used a numeric qualifier to add additional precision to the location. For example, THSP04 represents the anatomical equivalent to the 4th vertebra of the thoracic spine in the WorldSID dummy. For the Channel Codes used with the WIA-Man dummy, the more precise, numeric qualifier is used.

The Fine Location 3 substring is associated with the test object (i.e., dummy). This is a 2-digit code which, because of the size, limits the ability for the code to be self-descriptive in the general case. As the Channel Code is intended to be primarily machine-readable, the inability to concisely embed all adjectives associated with the WIAMan dummy or any potential WIAMan family does not pose a significant issue.

Although the code WM would seem a straightforward choice, the codes WS and WF are already taken to represent the WorldSID Dummy and the WorldSID Small Adult Female Dummy, respectively. The selected FINE LOCATION 3 code for the WIAMan dummy is DM representing the US Department of Defense average Army male. The D prefix is unused within the existing FINE LOCATION 3 codes and can therefore support a future WIAMan dummy family if needed.

This work was done by Michael Tegtmeyer for the Army Research Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) below.



This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
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WIAMan Technology Demonstrator Sensor Codes Conforming to International Organization for Standardization/Technical Standard (ISO/TS) 13499

(reference ARL-0228) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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