A hardware and software platform is presented enabling the design, and realisation via printing, of smart fabrics. The cultural and creative industries are an important economic area within which designers frequently utilise fabrics. Smart fabrics offer further creative opportunities to the cultural and creative industries, but designers often lack the required specialist knowledge, in electronics, software and materials, to produce smart fabrics. The software platform offers the ability to perform design, layout and visualisation of a smart fabric using a library of standard smart fabric functions (e.g. electroluminescence) so specialist expertise is not needed. Operation of the smart fabric can be simulated, and parameters can be set for smart fabric control electronics, which consists of standard circuit board modules. The software also provides driver code for the hardware platform to print the smart fabric. The hardware platform consists of a bespoke dispenser printer; functional inks are deposited via a pneumatic syringe controlled by the driver software, allowing bespoke rapid prototyped smart fabrics to be printed. Operation of the software and hardware system is demonstrated by the realisation of an interactive smart fabric consisting of electroluminescent lamps controlled by a proximity sensor. The modular electronics are used to control the smart fabric operation using embedded code generated by the software platform. For example, the blink rate of the electroluminescent lamp can be adjusted by the proximity of a hand. This control is achieved by the use of intuitive drop-down menus and input/output selections by the creative user. At present, the platform allows the design, print and implementation of smart fabrics incorporating the functions of colour change, electroluminescence, sound emission and proximity sensing. The platform can be expanded to add additional functions in the future and the printer will be compatible with new inks developed for screen and inkjet printing.
The objective of this article is to compare the shielding characteristics of the most applicable signal-blocking cables designs. In this paper, based on calculations and experimental studies, a comparative analysis of the shielding characteristics of cables with a solid pressed screen and a screen consisting of an aluminum-polyethylene tape and a layer of aluminum wires is performed. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the influence of external electric fields. Measurements of the ideal protective action coefficient of signal-blocking cable samples were made, and an estimated calculation of shielding attenuation was performed. For a comparative assessment of the influence of external transverse high-frequency fields, measurements of transient attenuation at the near end were made on samples of signalblocking cables under study. It is shown that the shielding characteristics of cables with a solid aluminum screen are better than those of cables with a screen made of aluminum-polyethylene tape and aluminum wire layer. Recommendations are given – on electrified railways, preference should be given to signal-blocking cables with a solid aluminum screen.
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