Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have incorporated conductive textiles known as metamaterials into conventional clothing to dramatically improve signal strength between electronic devices and offer the potential for new applications.
This ‘wireless body sensor network’ allows devices to transmit data with a 1,000 times stronger signal than conventional technologies, meaning the battery life of all devices is substantially improved. The university believes wireless networks of these wearable devices on a body have future applications in health monitoring, medical interventions and human-machine interfaces.
According to the university, almost all body sensors like smart watches connect to smartphones and other wearable electronics via radio-waves such as bluetooth and wi-fi. These waves radiate outwards in all directions, meaning that most of the energy is lost to the surrounding area. This method of connectivity drastically reduces the efficiency of the wearable technology as most of its battery life is consumed in attempting the connection.
Assistant professor John Ho and his team from the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (NUS iHealthtech) and the NUS Faculty of Engineering wanted to confine the signals between the sensors closer to the body to improve efficiency.
Their solution was to enhance regular clothing with conductive textiles known as metamaterials. Rather than sending waves into surrounding space, these metamaterials are able to create ‘surface waves,’ which can glide wirelessly around the body on the clothes. This means that the energy of the signal between devices is held close to the body rather than spread in all directions. Hence, the wearable electronics use much less power than normal, and the devices can detect much weaker signals.
“This innovation allows for the perfect transmission of data between devices at power levels that are 1,000 times reduced,” he explains. “Or, alternatively, these metamaterial textiles could boost the received signal by 1,000 times which could give you dramatically higher data rates for the same power. In fact, the signal between devices is so strong that it is possible to wirelessly transmit power from a smartphone to the device itself – opening the door for battery-free wearable devices.
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By GlobalDataOnce made, the smart clothes are “highly robust,” the researchers say. They can be folded and bent with minimal loss to the signal strength, and the conductive strips can even be cut or torn, without inhibiting the wireless capabilities. The garments can also be washed, dried, and ironed just like normal clothing.
The team is talking to potential partners to commercialise the technology, and hopes to test the smart textiles as specialised athletic clothing and for hospital patients to monitor performance and health. Potential applications could include measuring a patient’s vital signs without inhibiting their freedom of motion, oradjusting the volume in an athlete’s wireless headphones with a single hand motion.
The team has a first-year provisional patent on the metamaterial textile design, which consists of a comb-shaped strip of metamaterial on top of the clothing with an unpatterned conductor layer underneath.
