생체신호 측정용 군용 티셔츠 제작을 위한 스마트 의류의 적용 가능성 평가
Applicability of Smart Clothing for Development of Military T-shirts for Biometric Signal Measurement
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Smart healthcare clothing for biometric signal monitoring refers to garments equipped with devices that monitor the wearer’s health. The demand for such applications is increasing in the medical, sports, military, and firefighting fields. In the military sector, in particular, real-time monitoring of key biometric signals is essential to maintain soldiers’ combat readiness and ensure operational safety. However, most commercially developed ECG garments are manufactured via pre-finishing processes, which are complex, time consuming, and costly, thus rendering them unsuitable for military applications. Moreover, existing studies focus primarily on medical and healthcare applications, with limited foundational studies on military use. In this study, the feasibility of developing military smart T-shirts is evaluated by optimizing the fabrication conditions for conductive textile electrodes, comparing their performance with that of commercial electrodes, and creating ECG prototypes. The results show superior printability with a 110-mesh screen and stable resistance after three printing passes. The multilayer electrodes used exhibit high signal amplitudes under pressure. Although the resistance increases with the circuit lengths, encapsulation improves conductivity while functional stability is maintained after washing and repeated stretching. Whereas a two-electrode armband requires pressure for ECG measurement, the fabricated three-electrode bra-top and T-shirt enables stable ECG acquisition regardless of pressure additionally, the T-shirt exhibits durability even after washing. Furthermore, although the fabricated T-shirt exhibits slightly higher noise compared with commercial products, major ECG waveforms are clearly identified. Moreover, its SNR (15.57 dB) is higher than that of hexoskin. These findings indicate that screen-printed electrodes offer advantages in terms of process simplicity and scalability, thus suggesting their potential as a practical alternative for future smart-healthcare clothing in medical, sports, and military applications.
Abstract
Smart healthcare clothing for biometric signal monitoring refers to garments equipped with devices that monitor the wearer’s health. The demand for such applications is increasing in the medical, sports, military, and firefighting fields. In the military sector, in particular, real-time monitoring of key biometric signals is essential to maintain soldiers’ combat readiness and ensure operational safety. However, most commercially developed ECG garments are manufactured via pre-finishing processes, which are complex, time consuming, and costly, thus rendering them unsuitable for military applications. Moreover, existing studies focus primarily on medical and healthcare applications, with limited foundational studies on military use. In this study, the feasibility of developing military smart T-shirts is evaluated by optimizing the fabrication conditions for conductive textile electrodes, comparing their performance with that of commercial electrodes, and creating ECG prototypes. The results show superior printability with a 110-mesh screen and stable resistance after three printing passes. The multilayer electrodes used exhibit high signal amplitudes under pressure. Although the resistance increases with the circuit lengths, encapsulation improves conductivity while functional stability is maintained after washing and repeated stretching. Whereas a two-electrode armband requires pressure for ECG measurement, the fabricated three-electrode bra-top and T-shirt enables stable ECG acquisition regardless of pressure additionally, the T-shirt exhibits durability even after washing. Furthermore, although the fabricated T-shirt exhibits slightly higher noise compared with commercial products, major ECG waveforms are clearly identified. Moreover, its SNR (15.57 dB) is higher than that of hexoskin. These findings indicate that screen-printed electrodes offer advantages in terms of process simplicity and scalability, thus suggesting their potential as a practical alternative for future smart-healthcare clothing in medical, sports, and military applications.