MIT & The US Army To Make Multifunctional Integrated Fabrics

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in association with US Army have successfully tested a concept uniform, equipped with fiber optic like thread, that could help the soldiers detect light, heat and sound. The fiber optic threads form data links that are spread across the uniform which can serve as a communication system. MIT also plans to integrate the following features to these fabrics in the next ten years:

    [*]Fibers built out of semiconductor material whose conductivity changes when heat varies help in heat sensing. These will help track the severity of the injuries of a soldiers.
    [*]Laser reflecting fabrics could help them differentiate between friends and foes.
    [*]Fibers made out of acoustic transduction material shall act as acoustic medium that can help the soldiers communicate.

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The fabrics also come with some drawbacks as well. Data transmission between two uniforms get disrupted when something comes between them and the devices have been tested for a maximum distance of 75 meters. Institute for Soldiers Nanotechnologies, a joint Army and MIT venture have woven uniforms with fibers that are about a millimeter in diameter are planning to reduce it to 100 microns which according to them it will take at least a few years.

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