Research and Development of an Advanced Personal Load Carriage System Phases 2 and 3. Section A: Further Developments of Comprehensive Measurement Systems.

摘要

Under DCIEM contract #W7711-5-7273/001!/TOS, numerous improvements were made to the equipment and protocol for load carriage system testing in the APLCS project. These improvements focused on three areas: 1. Measurement Systems Ground Reaction Forces and Moments - incorporation of load cell at torso hip level. Contact Pressure- measurement from four pressure sites with addition of second F-scan system. Strap Forces - improved transducer attachment method, increased number of gauges. Relative Motion- source firmly attached on mannikin, improved software developed. Data Management Software - data collection and display improvements made to software. 2. Physical Systems Pneumatic Control System - valves and software improved for better control, increase in programmable motions. Anthropometric Model Torsos - four mannikins created to compare results across sizes and genders. 3. Test Protocol Changes Stiffness Testing - improved testing jig, data collection automated. Component Testing - mannikin created for component testing, custom shoulder straps developed. Portable Testing - preliminary trials conducted of simultaneous quantitative data collection in field. The nature of these improvements, along with an explanation of their incorporation into the. current LCS testing protocol, are further explained in the following section. Recommendations for future test development work, focussing on the portable system, are also included.