Textile pressure sensor made of flexible plastic optical fibers

Abstract

Sensor and actuator fibers in combination with man-made or natural fibers have a high demand in the field of so-called smart textiles used for performance and health monitoring of persons and patients. Their development depends on newmaterials, compounds and processing techniques to finally miniaturize, embed and connect electronic and optical sensors into fabrics and garments. In a proof-of-concept study,we have developed a pressure sensitive sensor array which is based on flexible optical fibers integrated into woven textiles.