Hello kongulu-ga
What a fun question! A quick search revealed that youre addressing a
high growth market. Ive collected a variety of resources that give
you an overview of the technologies and point you to the developers
and manufacturers of various products. Their pages give you more
detailed descriptions of the variety of applications for smart
fabrics. This is a technology that has definitely taken off since the
first symposium on it in 1997.
Enjoy your explorations.
czh
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-956696.html?tag=fd_top
Smart clothing expected to take off
September 5, 2002,
A report published this week by research firm Venture Development
predicts that shipments of wearable computers--such as those worn on
the wrist, belt and ear or those built into fabric itself--will grow
by more than 50 percent each year through 2006. Shipments totaled more
than $70 million in 2001 and are expected to reach $563 million in
2006, the company said.
http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/consgoods/smartfab.html
Freelance Traveller
In A Store Near You: Smart Fabrics
This article gives you a long list of possible applications.
http://www.computer.org/proceedings/iswc/8192/8192toc.htm
1st International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC '97)
October 13 - 14, 1997
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
You can look at the 20+ abstracts of this conference organized by IEEE
and download them for a nominal fee.
http://web.media.mit.edu/~rehmi/fabric/
Smart Fabric, or Washable Computing
Wearable computers can now merge seamlessly into ordinary clothing.
Using various conductive textiles, data and power distribution as well
as sensing circuitry can be incorporated directly into wash-and-wear
clothing. This paper describes some of the techniques used to build
circuits from commercially available fabrics, yarns, fasteners, and
components.
http://www.eleksen.com/flash/default.shtml
ElekTex. It looks and feels like a fabric, but it's more than that.
It's an intelligent technology capable of electronic sensing,
heralding a new generation of product opportunities. You can fold it,
scrunch it or wrap it, according to your need. Lightweight, durable,
flexible and cost competitive, ElekTex can change the way we live.
Welcome to the future. Welcome to a soft new world.
http://www.eleksen.com/flash/app_design.shtml
See applications in: telecom, computing, games, automotive and
healthcare
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2001june/pda20010622006477.htm
Short article and discussion of possible applications of ElekTex
technology.
http://www.bff-nonwovens.com/smartfabric.htm
BFF specializes in the design and manufacture of smart fabrics, that
is, added value fabric propositions which have been created with
special qualities or characteristics to make an active contribution to
product effectiveness.
http://www.bff-nonwovens.com/industrial.htm
Automotive, Filtration, Health and Hygiene application of interlining
and wipes capabilities, including fabrics that dissolve at certain
temperature, deliver anti-bacterial', 'electrostatic charges',
'abrasion' and 'colour printing or other customized qualities.
http://www.edwardwillett.com/Columns/smartfabric.htm
Smart Fabric
The underlying technology, called Kinotex, was developed by the CSA to
enhance the dexterity of the robot arm and to provide it with a sense
of touch, so that it could tell when it made contact with something
and stop its motion before any damage occurred. The technology also
had to be robust enough to use in outer space.
The article discusses possible applications
http://www.tactex.com/
Tactex Controls Inc.
Kinotex is an innovative multi-touch, pressure-sensing technology
that was originally developed for the Canadian Space Agency to give
robot arms a sense of touch. It is, in effect, "Digital Skin".
Tactex brings this technology down to earth by developing and
manufacturing Kinotex enabled control and sensing surfaces for
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) in a variety of industries.
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