A Framework for the Engineering and Design of E-Textiles
We worked with IPC to develop a whitepaper for designers and engineers that provides a framework for e-textile development. If you’d like to give it a gander, they were kind enough to give us a free preview link to share with our community. Scroll down for a preview download of the whitepaper or head to IPC’s Website to purchase the entire document.
ABSTRACT
Established technical industries, such as software development or garment production, have common pools of knowledge that create a design framework. For example, any garment designer or manufacturer would understand that behind every garment there is a paper pattern, a sewn sample with edits and a final tech pack that is used for production. Any one of those parts of the framework can be pointed to and edited along the path of making the final garment. For software, one might know that any website you use has a front end and back end. Server and software engineers often specialize in one part of this stack, allowing deep discovery in one area. For e-textiles, we often refer to the entire e-textile product with one term. There lacks a sense of clarity around the parts that make up an electronic textile, and the purpose that each part serves. When we better specify each element that goes into an e-textile, we can better communicate with engineering teams, manufacturers and suppliers. This white paper suggests a framework—or a stack—that can be used to think about e-textile development.
*The text shown is Copyright 2019 by IPC International, Inc. and is used with IPC’s permission. The text may not be altered or further reproduced without the prior written consent of IPC.