Textile fabrics fibre electronics technology

The Intelligent Knee Sleeve (IKS CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology, Clayton South, VIC, Australia) is a device developed for injury prevention. It provides immediate audible feedback to the wearers with respect to their knee angle. A fabric sleeve is worn around the knee, with a flexible strain gauge attached over the kneecap and linked to small electronics (Figure 12.7). The electronic module has been miniaturized into a few centimeters and simply snapped to the side of the sleeve (Munro et ah, 2008). 

Several efforts to create prototypes of wearable functional devices have been made in the last years. Most of them consider the approach of joining conventional off-the-shelf electronic devices to fabrics, such as microcontrollers, LED s, optical fibres and all kinds of sensors, especially electrodes for ECG measurement. The consolidated textile technology for integrating conductive yams into knitted or woven fabrics and the implementation of sensors through embroidery has encouraged their use as suitable means for connection, data communication and power transfer. 

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