Smart blanket: Flexible and easy to couple waveguide

Abstract

This paper presents a novel concept data collecting device for body-centric wireless communications, smart robe or blanket. It couples to sensor units on human body wirelessly by just putting on the human body. It is consisting of textile-based free access mat. The free access mat is a thin sheet-shaped waveguide which wireless devices can couple to at an arbitrary position on it. We investigate the transmission characteristics depending on materials, folding or bending, the presence of the human body.