The goal of this activity is the development of personal monitoring systems, which are incorporated into textile fabrics or garments. We will focus on two topics: the continuous recording and surveillance of physiological data and the improvement of sensor/skin interfaces.

High reliability and availability is mandatory for a safe operation of life-supporting systems. Implant lifetime is strongly influenced by materials, design and processing parameters. Some topics of this module are linked to the Empa research program «Nanotechnology». Empa has extensive experience in reliability evaluations of systems and devices, including failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), fault tree analysis (FTA) and others, and in characterisation and failure analysis of electronic, photonic, and mechanical materials and devices. Major tools include non-destructive evaluation techniques such as focused ion beam (FIB) and electron beam (SEM, TEM), Xray microscopy and tomography, ultrasonic inspection, 3D optical imaging, data acquisition and image processing. These very same techniques are also used to analyze biological materials and implants. Research projects at Empa include for instance the development of implantable passive stress sensors that can be read with ultrasound; the development of X-ray phase contrast reconstruction and imaging of soft tissue, e.g. for mammography; the microscopic investigation of trabecular and cortical structures; and the determination of local stress, fatigue and crack formation of bone with X-ray tomography.