Fiber-WBAN Weaves a Self-Powered Sensing Network Right Into Your Clothes — No Chips Required

Researchers from Donghua University and ETH Zurich have shown off a new approach to wearable electronics: self-powered sensing fibers, capable of creating a wearable sensing network built from just one such fiber — and easily integrated into clothes without the need to add other electronic components.

"We focused on the mechanism by which the fiber achieves the three functions of energy generation, signal sensing, and wireless transmission, and design[ed] a self-powered, chipless wireless smart clothing system based on Fiber-WBAN [Wireless Body Area Network]," explains co-corresponding author Hongzhi Wang. "Our results show the potential of using clothing to engineer electromagnetic propagation around the body and provide a starting point for translating concepts of wearable electronics onto a textile platform for wireless sensing, signal processing and energy transfer."

Traditional approaches to body-worn wireless body area networks (WBANs) typically rely on a central traditional electronic device — uncomfortable, the research argue, unable to easily conform to the shape of the wearer's body, and easily damaged during washing. The Fiber-WBAN, by contrast, is made up of nothing but a single fiber — itself built from a double-helix of conductive fibers, an insulated coating and a special nanofiber mix.

This, the researchers have demonstrated, can act as a sensor, a transmitter, and a triboelectric generator — turning movement into energy, and doing away with the need for any on-body electronics package at all. To prove the concept, the team built a fabric controller that could be used to control a game of Snake playing on a nearby smartphone, a wearable posture sensing system used to provide gesture recognition, and even a health-monitoring sensor that can monitor the sodium and chloride ion concentrations in sweat.

"Our results show the potential of using clothing to engineer electromagnetic propagation around the body and provide a starting point for translating concepts of wearable electronics onto a textile platform for wireless sensing, signal processing, and energy transfer," the researchers conclude. "Currently, this single fiber body-area sensing network needs further improvement in sensing stability, functionality and durability. We envision that embedding such advanced electromagnetic capabilities into athletic wear and medical clothing could enhance our ability to perceive and interact with the world around us."

The team's work has been published in the journal Wearable Electronics under open-access terms.