Smart suit doesn't miss a beat

04 Jul '07

3 min read

Imagine wearing a smart T-shirt or a suit embedded with tiny electronics that can monitor your heart or respiratory function wirelessly. When dirty, you take it off and throw it in the wash or have it dry-cleaned.

Researchers from the University of South Australia have been using garment integrated electronic technology to develop smart garments that, when placed on electronic hangers, enable monitored data to be downloaded in a heartbeat to a computer in your wardrobe, and then be recharged ready for wearing.

And there's no need to worry about your heart skipping a beat while your garment is being cleaned, according to researcher and Director of UniSA's Wearable Computer Laboratory, Professor Bruce Thomas.

“For continuous monitoring, you can take off one garment and put on another smart garment so, instead of having just one heart monitor, you can have a wardrobe of them,” Prof Thomas said.

Prof Thomas points out that his researchers were not the first to think of this technology, but “we're the first worldwide to develop smart garment management technology that works,” he said.

“The wardrobe has a touch screen on the outside and conductive metal bands spanning the hanging rail inside, with wires connecting it to a computer in the base of the wardrobe. When we place electronic hangers, each with their own ID and metal connection, on the rail, it detects the hangers and smart garments incorporating the conductive material and integrated electronics,” Prof Thomas said.

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