Scanner Benchmarking

Jennifer Bougard was invited to present this paper as a member of an international group reporting on the application of scanning technology to anthropometrics. This first publication on benchmarking on whole body scanners was undertaken prior to the UK national sizing survey, as there were no existing standards.

As a member of the team that wrote, trialled and implemented a two-stage benchmark procedure, Bougard's initial role was preparing three sets of anthropometrics measurements and response instruments with which manufacturers could evaluate their own scanners. The first two measurement sets were used to guide manual measuring and scanning of a mannequin and female model. The third, a 132-measurement set, formed a questionnaire for manufacturers to record the number of measurements their scanners could extract automatically, and to report expected accuracy.

In stage two the team visited manufacturers in the UK, Germany, France and the USA. Bougard's contribution was to draft and trial procedural and reporting documents, and to test a set of anthropometric equipment. That equipment was used to landmark and measure subjects at each location, where findings were used to evaluate the consistency and reliability of electronically captured measurements.

Further research activities included: selection and scanning of a female mannequin (a control instrument to evaluate all scanners) and of underwear materials (used to challenge the capture capability of each scanner). On completion, Bougourd administered a questionnaire to assess subjects' experience of scanning technology, and implemented procedures to ensure maintenance of ethical and data protection standards for scanner manufacturers and subjects.

Data collected in both phases were of a primary nature and were analysed using traditional statistical procedures. Numerical results remained confidential.