How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronics
A new type of smart fabric developed at the University of Washington could pave the way for jackets that store invisible passcodes and open the door to your apartment or office.
The UW computer scientists have created fabrics and fashion accessories that can store data -- from security codes to identification tags -- without needing any on-board electronics or sensors.http://www.dailysciencenow.tk
As described in a paper presented Oct. 25 at the Association for Computing Machinery's User Interface Software and Technology Symposium (UIST 2017), they leveraged previously unexplored magnetic properties of off-the-shelf conductive thread. The data can be read using an instrument embedded in existing smartphones to enable navigation apps.
"This is a completely electronic-free design, which means you can iron the smart fabric or put it in the washer and dryer," said senior author Shyam Gollakota, associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. "You can think of the fabric as a hard disk -- you're actually doing this data storage on the clothes you're wearing."http://www.dailysciencenow.tk
Most people today combine conductive thread -- embroidery thread that can carry an electrical current -- with other types of electronics to create outfits, stuffed animals or accessories that light up or communicate.http://www.dailysciencenow.tk/2017/11/the-path-length-of-light-in-opaque-media.html
Like hotel card keys, the strength of the magnetic signal weakens by about 30 percent over the course of a week, though the fabric can be re-magnetized and re-programmed multiple times. In other stress tests, the fabric patch retained its data even after machine washing, drying and ironing at temperatures of up to 320 degrees Fahrenheit.http://www.dailysciencenow.tk