Abstract
The rapid developments in the electronics industry and advancements in semiconductor fabrication techniques brings a unique emerging technology into the light called E-textiles or smart textiles. It is an integration of soft electronic components including smart sensors, controllers, batteries, antenna, and like-wise on the wearable textile or clothing. Thanks to the flexible soft circuitry and sensors that are placed very close to the body, E-textiles can precisely monitor the physiological or vital signals of the user. The soft circuitry is embedded inside the user’s clothing and it is designed to monitor the wearer (user) activity by using sensors but without causing any discomfort to the wearer. Similarly, E-textiles can be used in automobiles to display a digital instrument cluster and other important information on the dashboard textile cover or can be used to warm the vehicle seats in cold temperatures. Further, E-textiles has a quite high scope in the decoration, sports and fashion designing industry. However, despite having such a high potential—E-textile technology is still undervalued and quite a little research conducted in this field. This paper aims to extract, analyse and provide a comparative study of research and related work done in the E-textile technology up to now as well as to provide a comparative study of manufacturing techniques, components, and controllers used in E-textiles. In addition, the application areas are proposed, where E-textile can be utilized. At the last, whitespace or area of interest recommended where further research can be focused.
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Ahmad, M.M., Ahuja, K. E-textiles: a revolutionary technology. Int J Syst Assur Eng Manag 14, 2031–2047 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-023-02095-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13198-023-02095-9