GFD writes: "The EETimes has a story about a DARPA program to develop a new class of electronics and system architecture based on smart fabrics. Some of the more interesting challenges include networking protocols and fault tolerance. Routing between buttons? What happens if your CPU gets a rip??"
Battlefield diagnostic shirts...
by
BMazurek
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· Score: 5, Interesting
A friend of mine did his M.Sc. in mobile computing. He was attending a conference in probably 97 or 98, and there was a guy there giving a presentation on just this sort of thing.
The primary purpose in this case seemed to be diagnosing battlefield injuries as they happen. If someone gets injured in the battlefield, the piercing of the shirt would be used as a trigger to contact medical personnel. The positioning of the broken fibres would give the location of the wound. The fibres would also convey information about the amount of blood as well as any other fluids that might be present at the wound site. They would use built-in sensors to attempt to determine the trajectory of the projectile.
The result? Medical teams could be dispatched immediately, and would know (more or less) the kind of wound, and what they were likely to find when they got to the wounded soldier.
Of course, the requirements were also for a shirt that could be field washed several hundred times, and costed relatively little.
Sounded like an extremely cool presentation...
smart fabrics...
by
ldopa1
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I just posted as a reply to another poster, but this thought seems completely unrelated to what I was saying there, so here's another one.
Science Fiction novels have latched on to this idea vigorously. One of the best ideas would be smart armor for soldiers (even civilians...). When the fabric is struck by enough kinetic force, the fabric goes rigid, dispersing the force across a larger area. Bullet-proof vests made out of this kind of material could prevent even MINOR injury from relatively large sidearms.
From a civilian application, you would be able to buy ballistic protective shirts, pants, jackets etc that look fashionable, but protect you from the jerks with knives and.38's that want to take your money.
It would be an interesting social exercise. If you outfitted every civilian in a city with clothing that completely protected the wearer from knives and small arms (handheld firearms), would crime dissapear? What would a mugger use to compel someone to give over their wallet? Gas? Sprays? Biologicals?
Would the criminal of the future wield a Windex sprayer full of some mysterious liquid and say "Gimme your wallet, or I'll give you the Black Plague!" Basically, what I'm asking is do you think that crime would escalate or give up?
I realize that people say "If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." (which, by they way, I think is a stupid statement. Of course only outlaws would have guns. They're outlaws because they have guns. Duh!), but what if the guns were rendered useless? Even new guns?
-- The Dopester "Yes, I'm a Karma Whore, but I'm doing it to pay my way through school."
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The primary purpose in this case seemed to be diagnosing battlefield injuries as they happen. If someone gets injured in the battlefield, the piercing of the shirt would be used as a trigger to contact medical personnel. The positioning of the broken fibres would give the location of the wound. The fibres would also convey information about the amount of blood as well as any other fluids that might be present at the wound site. They would use built-in sensors to attempt to determine the trajectory of the projectile.
The result? Medical teams could be dispatched immediately, and would know (more or less) the kind of wound, and what they were likely to find when they got to the wounded soldier.
Of course, the requirements were also for a shirt that could be field washed several hundred times, and costed relatively little.
Sounded like an extremely cool presentation...
I just posted as a reply to another poster, but this thought seems completely unrelated to what I was saying there, so here's another one.
.38's that want to take your money.
Science Fiction novels have latched on to this idea vigorously. One of the best ideas would be smart armor for soldiers (even civilians...). When the fabric is struck by enough kinetic force, the fabric goes rigid, dispersing the force across a larger area. Bullet-proof vests made out of this kind of material could prevent even MINOR injury from relatively large sidearms.
From a civilian application, you would be able to buy ballistic protective shirts, pants, jackets etc that look fashionable, but protect you from the jerks with knives and
It would be an interesting social exercise. If you outfitted every civilian in a city with clothing that completely protected the wearer from knives and small arms (handheld firearms), would crime dissapear? What would a mugger use to compel someone to give over their wallet? Gas? Sprays? Biologicals?
Would the criminal of the future wield a Windex sprayer full of some mysterious liquid and say "Gimme your wallet, or I'll give you the Black Plague!" Basically, what I'm asking is do you think that crime would escalate or give up?
I realize that people say "If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." (which, by they way, I think is a stupid statement. Of course only outlaws would have guns. They're outlaws because they have guns. Duh!), but what if the guns were rendered useless? Even new guns?
The Dopester
"Yes, I'm a Karma Whore, but I'm doing it to pay my way through school."