Fabric enables digital communication between wearers, nearby devices

Imagine your car starting the moment you get in because it recognizes the jacket you're wearing. Consider the value of a hospital gown that continuously measures and transmits a patient's vital signs.

Researchers detail how they integrated advanced metamaterials into flexible textiles to create a system capable of battery-free communication between articles of clothing and nearby devices.

The invention enables wearers to digitally interact with nearby electronic devices and make secure payments with a single touch of a sleeve.

With fabric, electronics establish signaling as soon as you hover your clothes over a wireless reader, so you can share information with a simple high-five or handshake.

The near-field communications protocol has enabled the growth in applications such as wireless device charging and powering of battery-free sensors, but a drawback of NFC has been its limited range of only a couple of inches. The researchers extended the signal reach to more than 4 feet using passive magnetic metamaterials based on etched foils of Copper and Aluminium.

The team's innovation was designed to be highly flexible and tolerant of bodily motion. Because signals travel in the system via magnetic induction—versus the continuous hard-wire connections that had been state-of-the-art in smart fabrics—it's possible to coordinate separate pieces of clothing. In athletic gear, pants can measure leg movements while communicating with tops that track heart rate and other stats.

The applications in medicine are countless, such as freeing hospital staff from the task of applying numerous patient sensors, as they can all be integrated into metamaterial-equipped gowns.

The materials involved in the system are low-cost and easy to fabricate and customize, and varying lengths and branches of the metamaterial "rails" can be heat-pressed onto wearers' existing clothing—no need to go out and buy a brand-new high-tech tracksuit.