170-176Textile materials are generally lightweight,
flexible and unique in many ways compared to other materials. Most importantly,
they are omnipresent in our lives. Textiles are necessary next to our skin as
well as in our environment. They are used for comfort and protection as well as
fashion. In the near future, almost all textile products including what we wear
and walk on seem destined to be transformed from their present to multifunctional,
adaptive and responsive systems. The functions may include communication, computation
and entertainment, as well as health care and threat detection. Textiles used
in non-apparel applications may perform surveillance and detection functions.
Some of the concepts being explored currently may revolutionize our understanding
and appreciation of fiber-textile products. This paper reports the developments
in the field of electronic textiles, focusing on the current state-of-the-art
of electrotextile products and the research being carried out
in this field