| (Copyright The Leader-Post (Regina) 2004)
Canadian troops are stripping off their uniforms in a precedent-
setting experiment that could ultimately provide the most detailed
digital snapshot ever taken for such a large segment of Canada's
population. Technology that gathers ultra-precise measurements
for military uniforms is being rolled out at bases across Canada.
Troops, clad only in their underwear, step inside an eight-foot-high
booth, click on a joystick and wait several seconds while two cameras
snap their digital image and software converts it into 3-D.
Databases containing body measurements for uniforms will be networked
together, the statistics aggregated and compared. The result will be a
historic analysis of the Canadian Forces' average physique. The
Body Scanning System for 21st Century, or BoSS-21 units -- jointly
developed by the Defence Department and a University of Toronto imaging
researcher -- are already in use at bases in Trenton, Ont., Esquimalt,
B.C., Edmonton, and St. Jean, Que., where they capture 37 standard
measurements in 40 seconds. This fall, the Defence Department
announced expansion of the program, which will see eight more systems
in place at bases by 2008. Portability will transform more than
just the complicated business of provisioning 200 different uniform
styles for 60,000 members of the Canadian navy, army and air force.
"You'll be able to answer questions like, 'Is the navy a certain
(average) size?', and contrast that with the army (from) statistics
about the size and shape of (military personnel)," said the device's
co-creator Shi Yin, a 43-year-old electrical engineer, and CEO of
VisImage Systems Inc., in Toronto. Measurements will be 100-per-cent accurate, and instantly retrievable from anywhere in the country.
From garment sizes, military planners will be able to deduce
information to improve decision-making in a range of situations.
Knowing how thin or obese soldiers are from different bases, might lead
to changes in menu design, for example. "Or, you might need
different kinds of garments in Edmonton rather than Victoria, where
it's more temperate, so you'll be able to quantify how cold it is and
figure out if you'll need more fleece (uniforms), and if so how much
more," Yin said. U.S. and French militaries have developed their
own body scanners, but at less than $50,000, Yin's is one-fifth the
price. It's the only one with a cubicle for privacy, and has the most
sophisticated artificial intelligence, he claims. Low cost will
be an advantage in wooing other organizations with large numbers of
staff in uniform, such as courier companies, hospitals, postal services
or police, he said. The information is useful for everything
from planning health- care expenditures, to designing safer seatbelts
or calculating the ideal distance between a car's dashboard and floor.
The strongest interest in such technology outside the military comes
from government health officials, who see scanning as a cheaper,
error-free way to take a physical census of citizens. SizeUK and
SizeUSA, studies carried out by the governments of Britain and U.S. in
2001 and 2002, scanned thousands of volunteers using equipment
developed for the garment industry, and found astounding physical
changes in the population, including rising rates of obesity.
Brazil, China, Korea, Australia, France and Mexico are among nations
now planning, or conducting, similar health-oriented projects.
Michael Wolfson, assistant chief statistician for Statistics Canada,
who runs the health-statistics program, said Canada's federal
government is considering a "low-dose" X-ray technology, called Dual
Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry, or DEXA, for a national survey of
Canadians' physical health to begin in 2007. Body scanners have also started showing up at some retail stores in New York to market better-tailored clothes. |