Body Conformal Cables and Connectors

Current military cables and connectors tend to be heavy, bulky and are not conducive to comfortable body contact, particularly when worn for extended periods of time. They are stiff and have round profiles that cause excessive pressure on the body. They also tend to have insufficient bend relief, and mate with system components at odd angles resulting in lengths of the cable not contacting the body which is a snag hazard. Foster Miller proposes developing a stretchable body conformal integrated personal area network capable of transmitting power and data, and supporting electronic subsystems such as personal wearable computers, communications, sensors and GPS. The proposed network will take the form of narrow appliquéd elastic textile cables and an associated set of low profile connectors. Technologies to be investigated in Phase I could easily be leveraged to implement broadloom woven or knit conformal electrotextile garments if desired. Electrical performance, durability, design for wearability, and connection convenience will be addressed by the Foster-Miller team. Building on substantial experience of the team-members and their ongoing joint work, initial prototype elastic cables and CAD drawings of proposed connector designs will be evaluated and delivered within the Phase I program. (P-030566)