Master of Science / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Diana Sindicich / With continuing advancements in the area of electronics, there are more ways in which they are utilized in order to improve the lives of humans. These advancements have to led to the incorporation of electronic components into fabric structures, creating electronic textiles (e-textiles). As it has become possible to place small electrical components within clothing without the performance of the electronics being hampered, research has been conducted in the use of e-textiles in measuring aspects of the human body, such as the heart rate and perspiration rate. In the area of skin temperature, research has been conducted in the past using e-textiles for skin temperature measurement, but past efforts have been unsuccessful in incorporating useable temperature sensors into a fabric substrate. This study compared three types of sensors incorporated into woven and knitted fabrics, using insulated thermocouples, un-insulated thermocouples, and resistance temperature directors (RTDs). Three incorporation methods (weaving, interlacing into knit, and stitching) were used in six fabric samples, with the three sensor types woven and stitched into three woven fabric samples, while the sensors were interlaced into knitted fabric and stitched into the three knitted samples. Fabric hand washing and temperature measurement tests were conducted, and the temperature readings were analyzed statistically for comparison. The analysis conducted showed that the thermocouples that were interlaced or stitched onto the knitted fabric samples were best for temperature measurement due to their accuracy and durability, while the RTDs were unusable as a temperature sensor, as the removal of the electrical connectors during washing eliminated the calibration that was established before washing. This research was supported in part by the Institute for Environmental Research at Kansas State University.

General purpose microcontrollers have been used as computational elements in various spheres of technology. Because of the distinct requirements of specific application areas, however, general purpose microcontrollers are not always the best solution. There is a need for specialized processor architectures for specific application areas. This thesis discusses the design of such a specialized processor architecture targeted towards event driven sensor applications. This thesis presents an augmented multibus dataflow processor architecture and an automation framework suitable for executing a range of event driven applications in an energy efficient manner. The energy efficiency of the multibus processor architecture is demonstrated by comparing the energy usage of the architecture with that of a PIC12F675 microcontroller. / Master of Science

Improved process technology has resulted in the integration of computing elements into multiple application areas. General purpose micro-controllers are designed to assist in this integration through a flexible design. The application areas, however, are so diverse in nature that the general purpose micro-controllers may not provide a suitable abstraction for all classes of applications. There is a need for specially designed architectures in application areas where the general purpose micro-controllers suffer from inefficiencies. This thesis focuses in the design of a processor architecture that provides a suitable design abstraction for a class of periodic, event-driven embedded applications such as sensor-monitoring systems. The design principles of the processor architecture are focused on the target application requirements, which are identified as event-driven nature with concurrent task execution and deterministic timing behavior. Additionally, to reduce the design complexity of applications on this novel architecture, an automation framework has been implemented. This thesis presents the design of the processor architecture and the automation framework explaining the suitability of the designed architecture for the target applications. The energy use of the novel architecture is compared with that of PIC12F675 micro-controller to demonstrate the energy-efficiency of the designed architecture. / Master of Science

Electrically conductive fabrics are one of the major components of smart textile that attracts a lot of attention by the energy, medical, sports and military industry. The principal contributors to the conductivity of the smart textiles are the intrinsic properties of the fiber, functionalization by the addition of conductive particles and the architecture of fibers. In this study, intrinsic properties of non-woven carbon fabric derived from a novel linear lignin, poly-(caffeyl alcohol) (PCFA) discovered in the seeds of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia) was investigated. In contrast to all known lignins which comprise of polyaromatic networks, the PCFA lignin is a linear polymer. The non-woven fabric was prepared using electrospinning technique, which follows by stabilization and carbonization steps. Results from Raman spectroscopy indicate higher graphitic structure for PCFA carbon as compared to the Kraft lignin, as seen from G/D ratios of 1.92 vs 1.15 which was supported by a high percentage of graphitic (C-C) bond observed from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover, from the XRD and TEM a larger crystal size (Lc=12.2 nm) for the PCFA fiber was obtained which correlates to the higher modulus and conductivity of the fiber. These plant-sourced carbon fabrics have a valuable impact on zero carbon footprint materials. In order to improve the strength and flexibility of the non-woven carbon fabric, lignin was blended with the synthetic polymer Poly acrylonitrile (PAN) in different concertation, resulting in electrical conductivity up to (7.7 S/cm) on blend composition which is enough for sensing and EMI shielding applications. Next, the design of experiments approach was used to identify the contribution of the carbonization parameters on the conductivity of the fabrics and architecture of the fibers, results show carbonization temperature as the major contributing factor to the conductivity of non-woven fabric. Finally, a manufacturing procedure was develop inspired by the architecture of plant fibers to induce controlled porosity either on the skin or core of fibers which results in stiffness and flexibility in the fibers. Coaxial Electrospinning and Physical foaming (CO2 foaming) techniques were utilized to create the hierarchical fiber architecture. Finite Element model was developed to design for mechanical properties of the bioinspired fiber mesh. Results show the polymers contributes less in a coaxial design as compared to the individual fibers for mechanical properties. This manufacturing method can use for hierarchical functionalization of fibers by adding conductive nanoparticles at different levels of fiber cross-section utilized for sensing applications in sports and medical industry.

Humidity responsive materials sense, respond and adapt to the environment in response to changes in humidity. An important potential application of this material technology is the creation of “smart textiles” that facilitate moisture management in clothing. Materials used for clothing must have characteristics such as elasticity, washability and abrasion resistance, but smart textiles that have been demonstrated to date lack these characteristics. It is the need for improved materials that motivated the present study. Here, we developed spore-cellulose nanofiber composites (CNF) and spore-polyurethane (PU) composites, which are two biologically-based humidity-responsive materials that derive their high energy density humidity responsiveness from spores. We demonstrate the use of these hygromorphing materials for smart textiles by coupling the responsive materials to fabrics to create a textile that vents in humid environments and closes in dry environments. This material can be used in clothing to enable fast evaporation of sweat from the skin and improved comfort. Because the spore-CNF composite is not elastic stretchy or water resistant and therefore is undesirable for real world clothing applications, we also developed a stretchy spore-PU composite that is simultaneously humidity responsive, stretchy and water and abrasion resistant. In addition, we fabricated spore-PU based hygromorphing fabric bilayer actuators to create venting smart textiles with adaptive permeability properties that are compatible with clothing applications. These smart fabrics have the potential to improve the functionality and utility of garments, especially those intended for athleticwear, workwear and protective garments.

The developments in textile technology now enable the weaving of conductive wires into the fabrics. This allows the introduction of electronic components such as sensors, actuators and computational devices on the fabrics, creating electronic textiles (e-textiles). E-textiles can be either wearable or non-wearable. However, regardless of their form, e-textiles are placed in a tightly constrained design space requiring high computational performance, limited power consumption, and fault tolerance. The purpose of this research is to create simulation models for power consumption and fault behavior of e-textile applications. For the power consumption model, the power profile of the computational elements must be tracked dynamically based upon the power states of the e-textile components. For the fault behavior model, the physical nature of the e-textile and the faults developed can adversely affect the accuracy of results from the e-textile. Open and short circuit faults can disconnect or drain the battery respectively, affecting both battery life and the performance of the e-textile. This thesis describes the development of both of these models and their interfaces. It then presents simulation results of the performance of an acoustic beamforming e-textile in the presence and absence of faults, using those results to explore the battery life and fault tolerance of several battery configurations. / Master of Science

Because of their ubiquity and low cost fabrication techniques, electronic textiles (e-textiles) are an excellent platform for pervasive computing. Many e-textile applications are already available in the commercial, military, and academic domains, but most are very highly specialized and do not lend themselves easily to reuse or alteration. The purpose of this work is threefold: development of a methodology for building flexible and reusable applications that facilitates their use in the evolution of more complex systems, creation of a resource manager that realizes the methodology and enforces quality of service guarantees on tightly constrained textile resources, and construction of a simulation environment that allows for the rapid development and reconfiguration of systems to circumvent the need for the expensive physical prototyping process. This work discuss the effectiveness and appropriateness of the deployed event-driven hierarchical service model for application development. Additionally, this work explores the results of providing fault tolerance and quality of service guarantees in a textile environment that is particularly susceptible to faults. Further addressed by this work is the success of rapid prototyping and evaluation of applications in the simulation environment. / Master of Science

Standard test methods provide product developers with information regarding materials' suitability for different purposes. Typically, current standards are suitable for determining the mechanical properties of new materials. However, in the case of electronic textiles (E-Textiles) and wearable technology (wearables), adding conductive components with added functionality makes utilizing textile standards difficult, and these standards will not provide information on mechanical and electrical properties of conductive elements. New standards for E-Textile and wearables testing are needed to ensure product developers can obtain the information necessary to make informed decisions about new products. Standards organizations such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the Institute for Printed Circuits (IPC) are working on new methods for testing E-Textiles and wearables but must ensure the tests are rugged before publication and industry adoption. This study focuses on performing a ruggedness test for a new IPC test method for abrasion resistance of E-Textiles.

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