Mobile communication has been a boon to the information technology industry, opening up new markets for mobile phones, laptops and personal digital assistants.

The next wave of miniaturisation brings us ‘wearable’ electronics – always-avail- able communication systems integrated into clothing. In other words, this is clothing with a sixth sense. The electronic modules that form these systems are distributed across the body and connected through a complex array of processor and sensor networks.

The variety of smart clothing is already quite wide, both in features as well as in price. The selection in the future will run the gamut from high-performance, portable computer multimedia devices with head- mounted displays for service technicians to smart vests with an integrated telephone and music player. The possibilities are virtually endless. Even-tual applications will include everything from entertainment electronics to health monitoring, while for the individual consumer, items such as intelligent business jackets, communication jackets, emergency vests, fun shirts and sport outfits will be available.

Christine Kallmayer, a researcher at the Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, of Germany, emphasises: “For mobile electronics to become everyday appliances, they must be wearable – ideally unseen and ergonomically incorporated into our clothing.”

Within the next few years, computers will shrink to the size of a mere dust particle. Advances in the field of actuators, sensors and networking are also accelerating the pace of miniaturisation, ultimately enabling the creation of an entire network of microelectronic com-ponents integrated within garments. Today, miniaturisation has already given us communication devices such as mobile phones, tiny cameras and music players small enough to be integragted into clothing, spectacles, wristbands or belts.

Smart clothing modules must be light- weight, durable, washable and comfortable to wear. This will require fundamental changes in the way that mobile devices are built. Garments provide enough surface area to accommodate the various functional modules and requisite circuitry while, at the same time, enabling easy integration and access to user interface components, such as entry keypads and displays. And adding components such as sensors, data storage or solar cells as the network evolves is relatively simple. There is no shortage of ideas: sensors that monitor blood glucose levels or measure blood pressure and pulse rate, jackets with built-in microchambers that inflate to equalise the temperature, shirts that massage with ultrathin vibration mats, or underwear that administers precise doses of medication.

SMART TEXTILES

There was plenty of unique sights and sounds in the ‘smartTextile Village’, set up by Fashion Innovation Service, at this year’s CeBIT exhibition, in Hanover. It was a showcase event for innovative companies involved in the development of new textile functions, that is fashion with a little bit extra – jackets with Bluetooth, hands-free kits for cellphones, pockets with solar cells, backpacks fitted with cameras, T-shirts with temperature gauges, and clothes with global positioning system tracking.

Exhibitors, such as Lodenfrey, B�umler, Daniel Hechter, O�Neill and Xybermind, were unveiling the latest smart textile trends. Developments that are still only at the ideas stage or are used only in professional sectors will be the must-have products of the future.

The Bremen-based Centre for Comput-ing Technologies demonstrated what work will look like in the future when it exhibited at ‘Wearable Computing’ – mobile, wearable computer systems. The vision for the future is “computing anytime, anything and anywhere”.

Using ‘Hot Wire’, CeBIT visitors could complete a live skills-based exercise that simulates any everyday task. A display affixed to the head and a gesture glove enabled visitors to experience how information can be immediately acquired and pro-cessed by clothing.

For example, in the nursing sector of the future, electronics integrated into clothing will be able to measure body temperature and fluids. Skilled tradespeople will also be able to use their clothing to access information on site, such as operating instructions, while keeping both hands free for their work.