These smart pieces of clothes create a network of wireless body sensors which enables the fabric to pass on data with greater efficiency than any usual technology in use today. These Singapore based researchers have taken the technology of wearable electronics to the next level.
Wearable electronic devices have grown in popularity very rapidly over last few years. Smart watches, wristbands, fitness trackers, heart and pulse rate sensors have seen a considerable raise in their market shares. All these devices have helped consumers a lot in taking care of their health in a more sophisticated and up to date way.
“Potential applications could range dramatically – from measuring a patient’s vital signs without inhibiting their freedom of motion, to adjusting the volume in an athlete’s wireless headphones with a single hand motion,” said a statement released by NUS
As reported by researchers of National University of Singapore, this new technology of wearable devices can turn the human body into a living, breathing circuit board. This phenomenon can help the flow of information to be seamless between the sensors and the devices.
“This innovation allows for the perfect transmission of data between devices at power levels that are 1,000 times reduced,” Assistant Professor John Ho said. Conversely, these meta-material fabrics can “boost the received signal by 1,000 times which could give you dramatically high data rates for the same power” as well, he added.
Professor John Ho is the head of this research team which includes 10 researchers. Conventionally, the data transmitted through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radio waves gets most of its energy lost as a result of being directed outward in the surrounding. On the other hand, this new technology transmits the data through the body of the wearer to any device he or she is wearing. That device then processes that data based on its functionality. This transfer of data is so effective that it raises the efficiency of the wearable by several hundred times.
