Scientists at the University of Washington have developed smart fabrics that can make jackets store passwords invisible to the screen and even open the door to someone's apartment or office. They have also developed fashionable accessories that can store data - from security to identification - without the need for electronic devices or sensors mounted on them.

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As described in the report presented at the Conference of the Computer User Interface Technology (UIST 2017), scientists took advantage of undiscovered magnetic properties. pre-existing fibers. Data can be read using an embedded device on the smartphone.

According to Shyam Gollakota, an associate professor at the Paul G Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, "This is a totally electronic design, which means you can or put into a washing machine and dryer. You may think fabric is a hard drive - you are actually storing data on the shirt you are wearing. "

Most people today incorporate conductive fibers - they can only be electrically charged - with other types of electronic devices to make clothes, shoes, stuffed animals or accessories that can glow or communicate. .

But researchers at the University of Washington believe that the available conductive fibers are magnetic, which can be used to store digital or visible data such as letters or numbers. This data can be read by a magnetometer, an inexpensive device that can measure the intensity and direction of the electromagnetic field and is embedded in most smartphones.

In one example, the researchers stored the screen password in an electronic door lock on a piece of conductive cloth that was sewn onto the shirt's cufflinks. They unlocked the door by wading the front of a chain of magnetometers.

Researchers at the University of Washington have also created fashion accessories such as ties, belts, necklaces and wristbands and opened the code by surfing a smartphone through them.

They used traditional sewing machines to sew on the electrically-threaded fabric that the magnetic poles of just started in a random order. By rubbing a magnet on a fabric, the researchers can make poles aligned either in positive or negative directions, which may correspond to 1s and 0s in digitized data.

Like the hotel key, the intensity of the signal is weakened by about 30% in a week although the fabric can be re-magnetized and reprogrammed several times. In other stress tests, the cloth kept the data even after washing, drying and ironing at temperatures up to 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

This is in contrast to many smart shirts today that require electronic instruments or sensors to work, which can be troublesome if you experience rain or forget to remove these electronics before throwing your shirt. On washing machines - a potential barrier to the widespread adaptation of other designs of technology that can be worn (worn on people).

The team also demonstrated that the magnetized fabric could be used to interact with the smartphone while in the pockets. Researchers have developed a conductive glove that is sewn into the fingertips used to click on a cell phone. Each click produces a different signal that can perform specific actions such as stopping music or playing music.

Future work will focus on developing customized textiles that can be made from stronger walls and can store higher data density. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P Sloan Foundation and Google.

Nguyen Hoang Minh: According to http://www.fibre2fashion.com