Sensing of electrically conductive textiles and capacitance sensor-embedded fabrics for parachutes

This paper evaluates the conductive properties and sensing capabilities of various smart materials being considered for enhancing parachute performance. In a previous review of sensing technologies, several materials showed potential for parachute implementation - specifically, electrically conductive textiles and dielectric electro-active polymers (DEAPs). Past efforts have been focused on mechanically testing and evaluating the sensing performance of conductive fabrics (coated with carbon nanotubes, polypyrrole and polyaniline) and DEAPs. While some of the conductive fabrics demonstrated sufficient sensing capability, they were not conductive enough to implement into an intelligent parachute sensor network for transmitting power or data. Also, attaching or stitching DEAPs to the parachute fabric has proven to be a challenge. The primary goal of this paper is to investigate the use of highly-conductive textiles in an intelligent textile sensor network for sensing and as a means to transmit power or electrical signals. The applications of the materials investigated in this paper may also extend beyond parachutes to any large-scale textile structure.