A solution to fashion textile un-sustainability

Today, polarisation of the fashion textile industry has already begun as smart, intelligent and conscientious fashion emerges as a backlash to the experience of choice fatigue, poor quality, dumb design and greenwash. But the process, development and manufacture of fashion textiles is complex. And the demand, both customer and industry driven, for new integrated product policies,2 designed to minimise environmental impacts by looking at all phases of a product's life cycle, is problematic due to complexity and a lack of networking tools. This article explores these issues through the construct of the department store of the future

Wearable flexible lightweight modular RFID tag with integrated energy harvester

A novel wearable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag with sensing, processing, and decision-taking capability is presented for operation in the 2.45-GHz RFID superhigh frequency (SHF) band. The tag is powered by an integrated light harvester, with a flexible battery serving as an energy buffer. The proposed active tag features excellent wearability, very high read range, enhanced functionality, flexible interfacing with diverse low-power sensors, and extended system autonomy through an innovative holistic microwave system design paradigm that takes antenna design into consideration from the very early stages. Specifically, a dedicated textile shorted circular patch antenna with monopolar radiation pattern is designed and optimized for highly efficient and stable operation within the frequency band of operation. In this process, the textile antenna's functionality is augmented by reusing its surface as an integration platform for light-energy-harvesting, sensing, processing, and transceiver hardware, without sacrificing antenna performance or the wearer's comfort. The RFID tag is validated by measuring its stand-alone and on-body characteristics in free-space conditions. Moreover, measurements in a real-world scenario demonstrate an indoor read range up to 23 m in nonline-of-sight indoor propagation conditions, enabling interrogation by a reader situated in another room. In addition, the RFID platform only consumes 168.3 mu W, when sensing and processing are performed every 60 s

Real-time human ambulation, activity, and physiological monitoring:taxonomy of issues, techniques, applications, challenges and limitations

Automated methods of real-time, unobtrusive, human ambulation, activity, and wellness monitoring and data analysis using various algorithmic techniques have been subjects of intense research. The general aim is to devise effective means of addressing the demands of assisted living, rehabilitation, and clinical observation and assessment through sensor-based monitoring. The research studies have resulted in a large amount of literature. This paper presents a holistic articulation of the research studies and offers comprehensive insights along four main axes: distribution of existing studies; monitoring device framework and sensor types; data collection, processing and analysis; and applications, limitations and challenges. The aim is to present a systematic and most complete study of literature in the area in order to identify research gaps and prioritize future research directions

Impacts of the implementation of Industry´s 4.0 technologies in the portuguese footwear industry

The first three industrial revolutions came about as a result of mechanization, electricity and IT. It is safe to state that a fourth revolution is currently taking place in manufacturing, with it being generally branded as Industry 4.0. These Cyber-Physical Systems comprise smart machines, storage systems and production facilities capable of autonomously exchanging information, triggering actions and controlling each other independently. The present investigation takes this premise into account and focuses in pursuing what are the main implications of the implementation of Industry´s 4.0 technologies in the Portuguese Footwear Industry. In order to lay the foundations for the study, an extensive literature review was executed. This was followed by a qualitative and exploratory investigation, based on twelve interviews with various relevant actors of the Portuguese footwear scene. The interviews resulted in insightful conclusions. Firstly, it is possible to notice that the Portuguese Footwear industry is generally well equipped and informed. Generally, the manufacturers are aware of the new technologies that are made available, being that there are already successful examples of companies using them. The study has highlighted the importance for companies to develop an extensive evaluation regarding their specific needs in order to better decide in which technologies to invest. The path is being designed in order to continuously simplify technologies, so that they are easier to work with. The main constraint, to the present day, is linked with finding skilled workforce to perform tasks at the shop floor level and also with the generation of enough value that allows the manufacturers to invest in more advanced technology

Internet of Things (IoT) Embedded Future Supply Chains for Industry 4.0: An Assessment from an ERP-based Fashion Apparel and Footwear Industry

In this competitive business world most of the supply chains are struggling to sustain competitively in the global supply chain due to its increasing complexity in each phase of the supply chain operations. Many companies are facing financial difficulties and some have shut down due to poor supply chain management practices. Companies have to be smarter by incorporating the necessary technologies to be more competitive and sustain in the global supply chain, that processes can be better managed and automated where necessary. Most companies fail due to poor integrations of technology in their supply chain. It is important that companies be smarter in order to strive hard to reduce cost, improve customer services and to increase return of investments throughout the supply chain. While a few industries are taking a major leap; it is vital for other companies to adopt to the changing nature of the digital supply chains and embrace industry 4.0, leveraging Internet of Things (IoT). The primary goal of this study is to improve inbound and outbound operations to better manage and optimize and automate operations in an ERP system through the use of RFID technology and Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) technology in SAP. The existing ERP system was thoroughly analyzed using mixed method approach and was followed-up in assessing how transactions can be better executed in the system. The study derives a conceptual framework to enhance inbound and outbound operations in ERP for Fashion Apparel and Footwear Industry

Energy Consumption of a Hexspider Robot-o as Function of Footwear and Underground: Experimental Investigations

In this paper, the previously designed and implemented spiderino robot-o, or a robot used to act in a swarm for educational purposes, is investigated regarding his energy-consuming properties. An experimental setup consists of a platform inside which the spiderino robot-o can freely move with a fixed random movement program. Furthermore, the robot-o feet were equipped with footwear made of materials with different friction coefficients, non-equipped or plastics, equipped with cork, equipped with rubber, and the underground was chosen to be stone, wood, plastics, and with regard to floor inclination for all variants flat and for the stone variant also inclined by 10%. The results show a characteristic curve in energy consumption according to a slightly different behaviour concerning the material combinations of footwear and floor, which adapts energy consumption physically due to the specific footwear-underground combination

Footwear Antennas for Body Area Telemetry

Antennas designed to link footwear sensors within body centric networks are introduced with two small UWB antennas, one directional and another quasi-omnidirectional. The radiating characteristics are evaluated for three positions on a sample sports shoe using a detailed simulation model and measurements with a homogenous foot phantom. Antenna performance is assessed for resilience to close proximity loading by the footwear materials and the phantom foot

Digital transformation in the footwear industry : assessing the potential of IoT on portuguese SMEs in the footwear industry

In the last few years, manufacturing companies, from the most diverse industries and sectors, have been investing in industry 4.0 technologies. One of these technologies is the Internet of Things (IoT), which has been revolutionising industries, namely manufacturing, healthcare, energy, retail, and agriculture. Manufacturing firms are adopting IoT not only to improve quality, production and reduce costs but also to enhance the logistic chain and improve customer experience. However, very little progress has been made in the Portuguese footwear industry towards the implementation of the Internet of Things, particularly in the SME segment. This dissertation has analysed the potential operational and production advantages of IoT, the associated economic impact, as well as the limitations of this technology and the challenges for its implementation in Portuguese footwear SMEs. Finally, this dissertation aims to present an adoption roadmap. The results provided positive indicators of operational and productivity gains translated into cost reduction in work insurance, energy, travelling, acquisition of raw materials and decrease of inventory units, and production waste. Nevertheless, the associated potential of each IoT use case is dependent on the capacity of Portuguese footwear SMEs to invest and acquire the necessary technical resources. The main barriers to the adoption of IoT derive from the limitations of the technology and the specific challenges associated to the Portuguese footwear SMEs economic and technical framework. Nonetheless, the technological advances, the cross collaboration among the different footwear stakeholders, and a well-defined implementation strategy can overcome these barriers and bring operational and economic benefits.A Internet of Things (IoT), uma tecnologia da indústria 4.0, tem revolucionado indústrias como a da manufactura, saúde, energia, retalho e agricultura. As empresas de manufactura estão a adoptar a IoT não apenas para melhorar a qualidade dos productos, eficiência produtiva, e reduzir custos, mas também para aprimorar a cadeia logística e melhorar a experiência do cliente. Contudo, poucos foram os progressos feitos referentes à IoT na indústria do calçado Português, principalmente no segmento das PMEs. A seguinte dissertação analisou as potenciais vantagens operacionais e productivas da IoT e os seus impactos económicos, bem como as limitações da tecnologia e os desafios de implementação para as PME do calçado Português. Por último, é apresentado um plano de implementação da tecnologia. Subsequentemente os resultados mostraram indicadores favoráveis de ganhos operacionais e produtivos, que se traduzem na redução de custos com seguros de trabalho, inventário, desperdícios de produção, custos de manutenção, encargos com deslocações, custos de energia e custos de aquisição de matérias-primas. Contudo, o potencial de cada caso de uso de IoT depende da capacidade das PMEs do calçado Português para fazer o investimento financeiro e adquirir os recursos técnicos necessários. As principais barreiras à adopção da IoT derivam das limitações da própria tecnologia e dos desafios relativos ao quadro económico e técnico das PMEs Portuguesas do calçado. Não obstante, os avanços tecnológicos, a colaboração entre os diferentes intervenientes e uma estratégia de implementação bem definida podem superar estas barreiras e garantir a adopção e trazer ganhos operacionais e económicos

Insole Antenna for On-Body Telemetry

A 433 MHz antenna is proposed for integration with the insole of footwear for a body area network. The folded dipole design with an asymmetric groundplane radiates from its edges and considers the close proximity of the human foot and ground surfaces. It functions for different ground conductivity conditions and an on-body communication link with an Inverted F Antenna in the upper body area was evaluated on a static and dynamic human subject. The antenna solution was compliant with Specific Absorption Rate requirements, remains matched and links with upper-body nodes regardless of the body posture and node location

Technology enablers for the implementation of Industry 4.0 to traditional manufacturing sectors: A review

The traditional manufacturing sectors (footwear, textiles and clothing, furniture and toys, among others) are based on small and medium enterprises with limited capacity on investing in modern production technologies. Although these sectors rely heavily on product customization and short manufacturing cycles, they are still not able to take full advantage of the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 surfaced to address the current challenges of shorter product life-cycles, highly customized products and stiff global competition. The new manufacturing paradigm supports the development of modular factory structures within a computerized Internet of Things environment. With Industry 4.0, rigid planning and production processes can be revolutionized. However, the computerization of manufacturing has a high degree of complexity and its implementation tends to be expensive, which goes against the reality of SMEs that power the traditional sectors. This paper reviews the main scientific-technological advances that have been developed in recent years in traditional sectors with the aim of facilitating the transition to the new industry standard.This research was supported by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the project CloudDriver4Industry TIN2017-89266-R