Smart Suits
From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 07/10/2007

In the near future, you may get up in the morning, put on a "smart" T-shirt,
and automatically have your health monitored. When it's dirty, the shirt gets
washed or dry-cleaned. Researchers from the University of South Australia
have developed smart garments with tiny embedded electronics that can monitor
your heart or respiratory function wirelessly. The garments, when placed on
electronic hangers, enable monitored data to be downloaded in a heartbeat to
a computer in your wardrobe, and then they are recharged and ready for
wearing. 

Professor Bruce Thomas, researcher and director of UniSA's Wearable Computer
Laboratory, explains that for continuous monitoring, "you can take off one
garment and put on another smart garment so, instead of having just one heart
monitor, you can have a wardrobe of them."  

The wardrobe has a touchscreen on the outside and conductive metal bands
spanning the hanging rail inside, with wires connecting it to a computer in
the base of the wardrobe. When electronic hangers, each with their own ID and
metal connection, are placed on the rail, it detects the hangers and smart
garments incorporating the conductive material and integrated electronics.
Through this connection, the computer identifies that hanger 123 has coat 45
on it, which has stored heart monitoring data that needs to be downloaded,
and the hanger needs to be recharged. 

Garments with communication technology only and a wireless connection enable
users to access heart monitoring through a Bluetooth or Zigbee network,
eliminating the need for expensive heart monitoring equipment to be placed in
each garment. Future garments could be used for monitoring at home, for
outpatient care, and for people with dementia, who can be monitored with
minimal intervention. 

Read the media release from:
http://www.researchaustralia.com.au/files/unisa_smart_suit_030707.pdf

Links:
Bruce Thomas
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Staff/Homepage.asp?Name=Bruce.Thomas

Smart suit doesn't miss a beat
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-07/ra-ssd070207.php

Heart-Smart Suit
http://www.ddj.com/dept/webservices/200900149

University of South Australia
http://www.unisa.edu.au/

Smart fashion strive for long-distance interaction
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/01/08/wearable.digital/