Invention lets people pay for purchases with a high-five
Innovative fabric enables digital communication between wearers, nearby devices

Date:
November 16, 2021
Source:
University of California - Irvine
Summary:
Imagine your car starting the moment you get in because it
recognizes the jacket you're wearing. Consider the value of a
hospital gown that continuously measures and transmits a patient's
vital signs. These are just two applications made possible by a new
'body area network'-enabling fabric.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Imagine your car starting the moment you get in because it recognizes
the jacket you're wearing. Consider the value of a hospital gown that continuously measures and transmits a patient's vital signs. These are
just two applications made possible by a new "body area network"-enabling fabric invented by engineers at the University of California, Irvine.


==========================================================================
In a paper published recently in Nature Electronics, researchers in
UCI's Henry Samueli School of Engineering detail how they integrated
advanced metamaterials into flexible textiles to create a system capable
of battery-free communication between articles of clothing and nearby
devices.

"If you've held your smartphone or charge card close to a reader to
pay for a purchase, you have taken advantage of near-field signaling technologies. Our fabrics work on the same principle, but we've extended
the range significantly," said co-author Peter Tseng, UCI assistant
professor of electrical engineering & computer science. "This means you
could potentially keep your phone in your pocket, and just by brushing
your body against other textiles or readers, power and information
can be transferred to and from your device." Lead author Amirhossein Hajiaghajani, a UCI Ph.D. student in electrical engineering & computer
science, said the invention enables wearers to digitally interact with
nearby electronic devices and make secure payments with a single touch
or swipe of a sleeve.

"With our fabric, electronics establish signaling as soon as you hover
your clothes over a wireless reader, so you can share information with
a simple high-five or handshake," he said. "You would no longer need
to manually unlock your car with a key or separate wireless device, and
your body would become the badge to open facility gates." Tseng likens
the technology to a railway that transmits power and signals as it
crisscrosses a garment. The system allows new segments to be added
readily, and separate pieces of clothing can be paired to "talk" with
one another.

The near-field communications protocol has enabled the growth in
applications such as wireless device charging and powering of battery-free sensors, but a drawback of NFC has been its limited range of only a
couple of inches. The UCI researchers extended the signal reach to more
than 4 feet using passive magnetic metamaterials based on etched foils
of copper and aluminum.

The team's innovation was designed to be highly flexible and tolerant
of bodily motion. Because signals travel in the UCI-invented system
via magnetic induction -- versus the continuous hard-wire connections
that had been state- of-the-art in smart fabrics -- it's possible to
coordinate separate pieces of clothing. In athletic gear, pants can
measure leg movements while communicating with tops that track heart
rate and other stats.

The applications in medicine are countless, Hajiaghajani said, such as
freeing hospital staff from the task of applying numerous patient sensors,
as they can all be integrated into metamaterial-equipped gowns.

The materials involved in the system are low-cost and easy to fabricate
and customize, he noted, and varying lengths and branches of the
metamaterial "rails" can be heat-pressed onto wearers' existing clothing
-- no need to go out and buy a brand-new high-tech tracksuit.

"Our textiles are simple to make and can be integrated with interesting wearable designs," Hajiaghajani said. "We want to create designs
that not only are cool and inexpensive but can reduce the burden that
modern electronics can bring to our lives." Support for this project
was provided by the National Science Foundation. The team also included
Fadi Kurdahi, UCI professor of electrical engineering & computer science,
and graduate students Amir Hosein Afandizadeh Zargari, Manik Dautta and
Abel Jimenez.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Irvine. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Amirhossein Hajiaghajani, Amir Hosein Afandizadeh Zargari,
Manik Dautta,
Abel Jimenez, Fadi Kurdahi, Peter Tseng. Textile-integrated
metamaterials for near-field multibody area networks. Nature
Electronics, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41928-021-00663-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211116175020.htm

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