Wearable sensors optical fibres

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. 

The truly wearable sensing inter ces must be easy to use and customised for patient requirements of age, body size and posture, state of mobility etc. The mechanical processing of integrating sensors must be done using industrially viable techniques which neither affects the durability nor the function of smart fabrics. Many sensors can be used to measure the strain and deformation in materials such as piezoelectric sensors, piezo-resitive sensors, and fibre optic sensors. 

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