E-Textiles
Goals
To develop new eâ€textile technologies that can be used as part of an integrated health monitoring system. The project is to investigate new materials and fabrication processes for realizing eâ€textiles that integrate biosensing, signal conditioning and wireless communication within wearable fabrics. Team members will; (1) explore new electronic materials that are well suited for additive manufacturing technologies such as screen printing, inkjet printing or microâ€dispensing for creating wearable electronic sensors and circuitry, (2) explore novel methods for creating conductive networks within a fabric using custom woven fabrics or computer based embroidery, (3) explore packaging methods for embedding integrated circuitry within a fabric, (4) explore methods of power generation, (5) explore the design and fabricated of integrated wireless communication components such as textile based antennas, (6) develop test and validation procedures.
Issues Involved or Addressed
Electronic material design such as functional inks for realizing conductive, resistive and capacitive elements using additive manufacturing; Electronic design of integrated textile based biosensors; Seamless integration of electronic components such as integrated circuits within a textile; Novel methods for power generation; Design of integrated RF components and communication protocols for wireless communication of multiple biosignals.
Methods and Technologies
Academic Majors of Interest
Preferred Interests and Preparation
EE, CE and BME – Electronic material design, biosensing, additive manufacturing of electronic components, RF component design, testing and validation
EE, CE and CS – Embedded computing and wireless communication
