US Military Invests in $320M 'Smart Fabric' Project (cnbc.com)

The U.S. Department of Defense is investing in a $320 million project to create "smart garments" that can protect soldiers while monitoring their environment -- for example, uniforms that can change color or become invisible to night-vision goggles. Other possibilities include tents which generate electricity, uniforms which detect chemical or nuclear contamination, and parachutes that can detect tearing, according to Phys.org. "Key to the plan is a technical ingredient: embedding a variety of tiny semiconductors and sensors into fabrics that can see, hear, communicate, store energy, warm or cool a person or monitor the wearer's health," reports the New York Times, calling it "a new frontier for the Internet of Things." The Pentagon is joining more than 30 universities, 49 companies (including Intel) and the state governments of Massachusetts and Georgia, and they're hoping the "Advanced Functional Fabrics of America" project establishes two dozen incubators for startups and creates 50,000 jobs over the next 10 years by streamlining the implementation of the smart fabrics in America's textile mills.

Comments

Re:Your tax dollars at work

[Anonymous Coward]

Most technology that we take for granted came from military developments, everything from tinning meat, to refrigeration units, electronic computers, radar and GPS

If it was given the opportunity, civilian businesses would keep selling the same buggy whips for ever, it takes the deep pockets of 'military need' to fund most new development, even the US Space program is primarily a military endeavor