Smart clothing design issues in military applications

Abstract

Smart clothes development history started in the military field and this still remains a main application field. A soldier is like a high-performance athlete, where monitoring of physical and physiological capabilities of primary importance. Wearable systems and smart clothes can answer this need appropriately. Smart cloth represents a “second skin” that has a close, “intimate” relation with the human body. The relation is physiological, psychological, biomechanical and ergonomical. Effectiveness of functional wear is based on the integration of all these considerations into the design of a smart clothing system. The design of smart cloth is crucial to obtain the best results. Identifying all the steps involved in the co-design workflow can prevent a decrease in wearer’s performance ensuring a more successful design. This paper presents all the steps involved in the workflow for the design of a proposed solution of a smart garment for monitoring soldier’s performance.