EMINENT
road show on intelligent textile
Introduction
The use of airbags, ABS and EPS-systems are recent developments in which
Microsystems play an important role. They show how Microsystems, that combine
sensors, electronics and actuators, became essential components in the automotive
world. The integration Microsystems is further going on, mainly through
the telecom branch. For the future it expected this technology, combined
with nanotechnology, would strongly penetrate the medical sector and our
day-by-day environment. Clothing or other textiles in our surrounding
environment could be the most appropriate support material to embed these
systems.
The opportunities for these so-called intelligent textiles were subject of
the first EMINENT textile-road show organized in the Flemish region (Ghent,
June 17th 2004), in co-organization with MINT and CENTEXBEL and with support
of EURATEX and MinacNED. Similar events will be organized in other
European regions (Switzerland, Germany, Finland) in the 4th quarter of 2004.
Why this interest for intelligent textile
The current interest for the integration of Microsystems in textile (the
so-called intelligent textiles) is mainly driven by the microelectronic industry
and R&D-actors (market push). These developments can be placed
within a vision of the future, where small devices interact with your environment
wherever you are. Terminals adjust themselves to changing networks ensuring
a high-quality experience. Hooked up to a Body Area Network, sensors can
monitor vital life function and act if necessary. This is the so-called
ambient intelligence. The interest for textiles from this ambient-intelligent-vision
is based on the fact textile is ubiquitous and, as a consequence, can be
considered as a very natural environment to embed the components of the future
networks. From a technological point of view, the entire of textile
components, fibers, filaments and structures are an additional profit to
realize these networks. Of course, the advantage of the rather low
production cost of textile cannot be denied.
What is the current evolution for intelligent textiles
At this moment this technology must be classified as an embryonic one.
Current applications in clothing are mainly situated in the gadget markets
(e,g. wearable MP3 player, a music jacket with integrated keyboard, syntheziser
and speakers,…). But the interest for this technology is growing fast.
This growing interest can be illustrated by the steep increase of submitted
patents within this field since 2000.
Gradually, this technology finds its way towards the technical textiles.
Applications for protecting clothing (fire brigade, police, military clothing)
are considered as very promising markets for intelligent textiles. Current
research and development are related to the integration of thermal sensor,
transponders, EMV-sensors or monitors for heart and breath control.
Specific R&D interest is related to sport and medical applications.
Current developments of intelligent training suits for top sportsmen (TNO-textile)
can be a steppingstone towards high volume markets for sport recreations.
In line with the general increase of Microsystems applications in automotive,
it is expected future integrations in this branch will make use of the technical
textiles.
Technological challenges
Technological challenges are both related to the micro-electronic and textile
technical aspects. Flexible, small components and systems must be developed
in order to facilitate their integration in the textile products. These
systems must be durable (taking in account the maintenance of textiles, e.g.
washing) and reliable. Also esthetical aspects play a role in developing
a successful textile product.
The textile R&D actors are mainly focusing their activities on the development
of specific weaving patterns and textile structures and the development of
textile fibers with additional functions. R&D examples are the
development of an organic transistor on fiber, or the PIN-photodiode on textile
fiber.
From a Microsystems point of view main challenges are related to the development
of a complex system in which sensors, actuators data processors, communication
systems and energy management systems are combined in a very small unit.
Energy consumption of these systems must be extremely low. So specific
developments are needed for ultra low power wireless communication and data
processing and for local energy generators and storage. And systems
must be safe and reliable.
Opportunities toward SME’s
Due to the current low maturity of the technology developments it can not
be expected the field of intelligent textiles will create a high level of
market opportunities for SMEs In a short term (< 3 years). A second
disadvantage for the SMEs active in MNT and textile is the fact the development
of the intelligent products is very high, especially when new miniaturized
systems must be developed. In addition, the development of a full intelligent
textile product needs a strongly interdisciplinary approach. Very few
SMEs have sufficient financial capacity to overcome this long period of high
investments. Vendor capitalists need to be attracted and convinced
of the market value of the new products.
In a longer term however the opportunities for SMEs within this field will
increase. It is expected, market opportunities will be created by a
“spill-over” effect of the pioneer products. By re-fining or re-tuning
existing technologies (at lower cost), new applications can be found, resulting
in the launch of new products.
From this point of view it is important for the EMINENT target group and
the textile-SMS’s to keep an eye on the current, fast evolutions in the domain
of intelligent textiles. EMINENT can play an important role in the dissemination
of this information.
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