Wearable Fiber Optic Technology Based on Smart Textile: A Review

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Textile Engineering

Background:

• Smart textiles are enhancing wearable technology, particularly through fiber optics.
• Fiber optic technology is versatile, used in communication, sensing, and healthcare.
• Integrating fiber optics into textiles allows for personalized wearable devices on soft, curved body parts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review wearable fiber optic applications in smart textiles.
• To summarize working principles like side emission and modulation techniques.
• To discuss textile fabrication methods for embedding optical fibers.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on wearable fiber optics and smart textiles.
• Analysis of optical fiber working principles (side emission, wavelength/intensity modulation).
• Examination of textile fabrication techniques (weaving, knitting) for fiber integration.

Main Results:

• Wearable fiber optics offer diverse applications: fashion, esthetics, vital signal monitoring, and disease treatment.
• Key working principles for fiber optic integration into textiles are identified.
• Weaving and knitting are presented as effective methods for embedding optical fibers into fabrics.

Conclusions:

• The synergy of optical fibers and textiles is a rapidly growing field.
• This work provides a comprehensive overview of textile-based wearable fiber optics.
• Further improvements in wearable fiber optic applications can be achieved through advanced textile fabrication techniques.