Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have integrated advanced metamaterials into flexible textiles to create a system capable of battery-free communication between articles of clothing and nearby devices.
Amirhossein Hajiaghajani, a UCI Ph.D. student in electrical engineering and 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.
The near-field communications protocol has enabled the growth in applications such as wireless device charging and powering of battery-free sensors. However, 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 four feet using passive magnetic metamaterials based on etched foils of copper and aluminum. The medical applications are countless such as freeing hospital staff from applying numerous patient sensors, as they can all be integrated into metamaterial-equipped gowns.
Peter Tseng, UCI assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, said, “If you have 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 have extended the range significantly. 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 the device.”
Smart textiles are one of the areas that provide added value to textile materials. It is a sector that has been developed with new technologies, new fibers, and textile materials. The battery or power required for electronics is a big problem which the researchers have solved. A charging-free sensor could open a new horizon of research in smart textiles.
