Smart Coat with a Fully-Embedded Textile Antenna for IoT Applications

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) scenario is strongly related with the advance of the development of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. Additionally, in the WSN context, for a continuous feed, the integration of textile antennas for energy harvesting into smart clothing is a particularly interesting solution when the replacement of batteries is not easy to practice, such as in wearable devices. This paper presents the E-Caption: Smart and Sustainable Coat. It has an embedded dual-band textile antenna for electromagnetic energy harvesting, operating at global system for mobile communication (GSM) 900 and digital cellular system (DCS) 1800 bands. This printed antenna is fully integrated, as its dielectric is the textile material composing the coat itself. The E-Caption illustrates the innovative concept of textile antennas that can be manipulated as simple emblems. Seven prototypes of these “emblem” antennas, manufactured by lamination and embroidering techniques are also presented. It is shown that the orientation of the conductive fabric does not influence the performance of the antenna. It is also shown that the direction and number of the stitches in the embroidery may influence the performance of the antenna. Moreover, the comparison of results obtained before and after the integration of the antenna into cloth shows the integration does not affect the behavior of the antenna.

Çi̇ft Bantli Bi̇r Yama Anteni̇n Vari̇ogam Anali̇zi̇

“…The microstrip antenna examined in this work is from the work of Loss et al [13]. The antenna is intended for energy harvesting used for IoT applications.…”

Towards The Internet of Smart Clothing: A Review on IoT Wearables and Garments for Creating Intelligent Connected E-Textiles

“…The Internet of Things (IoT) is already unlocking the benefits of the data economy in numerous industries like healthcare [5], agriculture [6], manufacturing [7], home automation [8][9][10], transportation [11], energy [12,13], emergency management or defense and public safety [14,15]. Moreover, IoT and wearables, when coupled with advances in 5G communication networks for device-to-device communications [16], virtual/augmented reality [17,18], cyber-physical systems [19], Artificial Intelligence (AI) [20] and smart textiles [21], can bring human-to-human and human-to-machine connectivity and interaction to a new level. Therefore, smart wearables and smart clothing are on the limit that separates the physical and the digital world, and when combined with other technologies (e.g., smart glasses [22]), they have the potential to transform society due to their large-scale use and their transformative effects in many industries [23].…”

Advanced Functional Fiber and Smart Textile

“…In terms of function and application, clothing can be regarded as the second skin of human beings. With the development of flexible electronic technology and the closer interaction between people and the surrounding environment in the information age, smart clothing has gradually entered into people's horizon [3][4][5]. For example, in science fiction movies, a dress can play music, videos, adjust the temperature, and even surf the internet at the same time.…”