

In recent years, the importance of flexible and textile electronics in the field of wearable devices has continuously increased, as they are expected to replace conventional wires that exhibit limited resistance to the mechanical stress occurring in on-body applications. Wearable health devices (WHDs) can provide physiological information about various body parts and employ distributed sensor networks. Among the sensors typically integrated within WHDs, those based on the I2C communication protocol are very common and exploit signals transmitted at frequencies up to hundreds of kilohertz. Therefore, robust communication is required to guarantee a proper transmission of the signal at those frequencies. In this context, we have realized embroidered conductive threads exhibiting a lower resistance, appositely designed to replace conventional wires in a microcontroller-based wearable device employing I2C sensors. A commercial conductive thread (silver coated polyamide) was used to embroider the conductive lines on to cotton fabric. Preliminary measurements were performed to characterize the response of these materials to signals typically operated within the I2C communication protocol at different path lengths. Resistive measurements have also been performed to stimulate different environmental conditions, that is, temperature, the effect of sweating, and repeated washing cycles, also apply mechanical stress, i.e. twisting, with promising results that validate our conductive paths for digital signal communication. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
| Engineering controlled terms: | Flexible electronicsMicrocontrollersSensor networksWearable sensors |
|---|---|
| Engineering uncontrolled terms | Communications protocolsConductive threadsI2C communication protocolMechanical stressMicrocontroller-basedOn-bodyPhotoplethysmographyPhysiological informationsWearable devicesWearable health device |
| Engineering main heading: | Silver compounds |
| Funding sponsor | Funding number | Acronym |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | 854194 | H2020 |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme See opportunities by H2020 | H2020 | |
| Istituto Nazionale Previdenza Sociale | INPS | |
| Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca | MIUR | |
| European Social Fund | ESF |
The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020, WIDESPREAD-04-2019: ERA Chairs under Grant Agreement No. 854194 (STRENTEX: ERA Chair for emerging technologies and innovative research in Stretchable and Textile Electronic) http://strentexproject.com/ , (accessed on 9 October 2022). GV PhD grant was supported by Istituto Nazionale Previdenza Sociale (INPS) PhD fellowship, project title ‘Sviluppo di protocolli sperimentali e impiego di soluzioni tecnologiche finalizzate alla valutazione oggettiva e quantitativa dello stress lavoro-correlato’. SV PhD grant was supported by the Italian MIUR PON R&I 2014-2020 ‘Dottorati innovativi con caratterizzazione industriale’ funding programme. R P was partially supported by European Social Fund (ESF)—Complementary Operational Programme (POC) 2014/2020 of the Sicily Region.
Stojanović, G.M.; Department of Power, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia;
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