Page 43 - EETEurope FlipBook February

EE|Times EUROPE 43
IoT Clothing: The Next Generation of Wearables

at a destination at the expected time. This kind of wearable can also be working. However, embedding multiple sensors in the fabric will drive
used in high-risk settings, such as construction sites or mountaineering up design costs and complexity.
expeditions, where everyone’s whereabouts must be accounted for.
Because clothes made from IoT fabric have numerous contact Data collection: Sensors need to be small
points with the body, it is also possible to include more functionality An additional challenge is being able to include multiple sensors in the
into the system than other types of wearables allow. For example, fabric without affecting the fabric’s texture. Miniaturizing the sensors
instead of just monitoring the user’s heart rate and activity level, an may be a way to make them more transparent to the wearer. However,
IoT shirt can obtain additional blood-oxygen– and glucose-level data. the sensors must also perform so as to collect and transfer data con-
This way, a more holistic and potentially more accurate observation tinuously. The struggle to balance performance and form factor could
of the user emerges. cause development bottlenecks.

DESIGN CHALLENGES Energy supply: Solar; harvesting body heat, motion
Being on the new frontier is undoubtedly exciting, but it is also Finally, everything that the IoT fabric does needs to be supported by a
challenging. In addition to a flexible and easy-to-use human-machine steady supply of power. IoT fabric faces the same problem that other
interface, IoT fabric needs to be hardy, accurate, and self-sufficient. IoT devices have, i.e., how to consume as little energy as efficiently
as possible while maintaining a high level of performance. Using a
Hardiness: Vibrations, collisions, everyday wear and tear; lower-power microcontroller unit with a sleep mode may be an excellent
machine-washable way to conserve energy. On the other hand, obtaining energy without
Once someone puts on, for example, a shirt made with IoT fabric, that having to swap out expired batteries can also help energy efficiency.
shirt — or any other IoT apparel — will experience the same vibra- Much research is going into energy harvesting from body heat and
tions, collisions, and everyday wear and tear that the user experiences. motion or vibration. However, adding the capacity to harvest energy
Therefore, the fabric needs to be toughened to stay intact and func- from the environment and supply it to the fabric’s IoT system will
tional, more so if it is machine-washable. As ruggedizing an IoT device increase design, development, and production complexity.
typically involves adding protective material around the device, it is
unclear how this strategy can be applied to IoT fabric without affecting FUTURE VISION
its flexibility or wearability. More and more seniors worldwide will continue to drive demand for
new wearable technology. In the same way that Bluetooth baubles are
Accuracy: How to ensure consistent and uniform contact with the leaving their mark on the jewelry segment, wearables could well impact
patient during data collection the clothing sector of the fashion industry.
The wear and tear on the IoT fabric may also affect the accuracy Designing IoT fabrics and scaling their production will be incred-
of the data that it collects. Installing more sensors or different ibly difficult, but nobody can argue that it wouldn’t be worthwhile.
types of sensors will help ensure data accuracy. With additional and After all, that effort will enable fabrics to bring the power of the IoT
varied sensors, different types of data can be cross-referenced and to everyday life. Potential applications of such technology are limited
supported. only by one’s imagination. ■
Multiple sensors can also lengthen product life, enabling data
collection and analytics to continue even if one or more sensors stop John Koon is a contributing writer to the AspenCore Media network.

IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK

www.eetimes.eu | FEBRUARY 2021