Patients in the near future will use 'smart' fabrics to keep them healthy, thanks to a EU project that recently completed initial development of high tech clothing.
The Wearable Health Care System (WEALTHY) IST project just completed 30 months of research and development to prototype technologies at the heart of smart fabrics. Smart fabrics incorporate functional fibres and yarns into the weave, allowing researchers to develop many useful sensors for a wide variety of applications.
Intelligent use of microelectronics allows scientists and engineers to extract useful data from very simple inputs. For example, the WEALTHY project integrated temperature sensors in the armpit and shoulder of their garment to register core and skin temperature.
Europe is currently a leader in R&D on smart fabrics and interactive textiles, a market that analyst firm Venture Development Corporation believes will boom in the coming years: at $300m in 2003 the overall market growth is estimated between 11 per cent and 28 per cent through 2008 ($720 m in 2008).
posted by : http://cordis.europa.eu
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