Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
8.5.6
Communication
For intelligent textiles, communication has many options:
•
within one element of a suit;
•
between the individual elements within the suit;
•
from the wearer to the suit;
•
from the suit to the wearer or his environment.
Within the suit, communication is currently realised by either optical fibres
or conductive yarns. They both clearly have a textile nature and can be
seamlessly built into the textile. Communication with the wearer is possi-
ble, for instance, by the following technologies:
•A flexible textile screen of optical fibres. Nevertheless, these clothes are
raised to a first generation of graphical communication means.
•
Pressure-sensitive textile material, allow input of information, provided
a processing unit can interpret the commands.
For communication over longer distances, a wireless connection is
favoured. This can be achieved by integrating a textile material antenna,
data conversion and infrared transmission systems
79
. Such a wireless
network can be developed based on CANBus, which enables performance
at high-speed data transmission and the use of a high number of devices,
connected with Bluetooth wireless modules
79
.The advantage of integrating
antennae in clothing is that a large surface can be used; indeed the whole
clothing device can be an antenna. In the summer of 2002, a prototype was
presented by Philips Research Laboratories, UK, and Foster Miller, USA,
at the International Interactive Textiles for the Warrior Conference
(Boston, USA)
19,78
.
8.6
References
1. Kolkmann A., Gries Th.,
'Smart Textiles - New Chances for Technical Applica-
tions' Techtextil Symposium Proceedings
, Germany, 7-10 April 2003.
2. Newnham R.E., Amin A., 'Smart materials acting as both sensors and actuators
can mimic biological behavior'
Chem. Tech.
,
29
(12) (1999) 38-46.
3. Xiang Z.X., Ming X., 'Smart textiles (1): Passive smart'
Textile Asia
(2001),
28-29.
4. Van Hinte (ed.)
Smart Design
, Netherlands Design Institute, 1998, 5.
5. Xiaoming Tao (ed.)
Smart Fibres, Fabrics and Clothing
,Woodhead Publishing,
Cambridge, 2001.
6. Van Langenhove L., Hertleer C., 'Smart Textiles, an overview'
Proc
.
3rd Textile
Conf.
, 25-27 June 2003.
7. Schlosser M., Ziegler M., Fraser D.M., 'Biocompatibility of active implantable
devices' in
Biosensors in the Body: Continuous
in vivo
Monitoring
,John Wiley,
Weinheim, 1997, 140-157.
