Abstract
The aesthetics and design are often given less attention when developing smart textile sensors and applications. On the other hand, in constructive design research, the designer is inherently getting closer to the technology. To fully utilise the expertise of a textile designer and to bridge this gap between engineering and design, an understanding of both the smart material and its implications is needed. Thus, there is a need to augment the methods available for a textile designer to develop smart textiles. To this end, we created a set of knitted sensory samples, providing a basic set of structures for the evaluation of the signals towards a visual method for evaluating their qualities. From an engineer point of view, the samples focus on conductivity, capacitive coupling and impedance changes, and from a designer point of view, vary in the type of electroconductive material, knit patterns and the visual differences. The samples were evaluated using Lissajous-figures, which provide an unambiguous representation of the frequency-related behaviour, being relatively straightforward to utilise. The measured differences were often clear, with structure- and fibre-based differences being made visible through the use of variable frequency. Our approach focuses on the strengths of both designers and engineers, by providing a visual method satisfying both experiential and technological requirements, as well as giving a tool for communicating about the behaviour of the smart textiles.
Keywords
Knitting; Smart Textiles; Method; Lissajous figure; Constructive Design Research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2017.124
Citation
Townsend, R.,and Mikkonen, J.(2017) Signals as Material: From Knitting Sensors to Sensory Knits, in Elvin Karana, Elisa Giaccardi, Nithikul Nimkulrat, Kristina Niedderer, Serena Camere (eds.), Alive. Active. Adaptive. International Conference on Experiential Knowledge and Emerging Materials, 19-20 June 2017, Delft and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2017.124
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Signals as Material: From Knitting Sensors to Sensory Knits
The aesthetics and design are often given less attention when developing smart textile sensors and applications. On the other hand, in constructive design research, the designer is inherently getting closer to the technology. To fully utilise the expertise of a textile designer and to bridge this gap between engineering and design, an understanding of both the smart material and its implications is needed. Thus, there is a need to augment the methods available for a textile designer to develop smart textiles. To this end, we created a set of knitted sensory samples, providing a basic set of structures for the evaluation of the signals towards a visual method for evaluating their qualities. From an engineer point of view, the samples focus on conductivity, capacitive coupling and impedance changes, and from a designer point of view, vary in the type of electroconductive material, knit patterns and the visual differences. The samples were evaluated using Lissajous-figures, which provide an unambiguous representation of the frequency-related behaviour, being relatively straightforward to utilise. The measured differences were often clear, with structure- and fibre-based differences being made visible through the use of variable frequency. Our approach focuses on the strengths of both designers and engineers, by providing a visual method satisfying both experiential and technological requirements, as well as giving a tool for communicating about the behaviour of the smart textiles.