Electrically Functional Garment Systems: Developing a Smart Integrated Uniform Prototype Garment

Integration of the sailor into the Navy’s system of systems onboard ship and off will enable improvements to the availability of mission-critical information to both the sailor and the Command. This integration is to be accomplished through embedding electronic system functionality into the sailor’s uniform, enabling what Propel has named the Smart Integrated Uniform™(SIU). Through selectively integrated capabilities, the SIU will augment the operational effectiveness of the sailor while minimizing the associated cognitive and physical burdens imposed. Target functionality by the end of Phase II will be physiological monitoring (PSM) of human assets in an underwater operational environment.During Phase I and Phase I Option Propel identified technology approaches that will contribute to the development and construction of the SIU. Still, several technology gaps must be solved for to meet the transparency, maintainability, and scalability requirements necessary for the fielding of an electrically functional garment system by the US Navy. During Phase II Propel will develop and prototype novel technologies to overcome these gaps, including but not limited to: textile/electronics interconnection methods, electrically functional engineered yarns, electrically functional knit structures, and embedded electrical networks within knit textiles. Prototype SIU PSM garments will be tested in a simulated operational environment.