可穿戴设备在军事领域怎么玩？

可穿戴设备其实不仅与我们普通人的生活息息相关，对于军事领域，一样起着重要的作用。比如Intelligent Textiles公司一直走在可穿戴技术军事应用领域的前沿，该公司最近推出了一款织物键盘以及一款织物充电装备，让士兵走出装甲车后还可以继续为身上的装备充电。

如果你在玩Fitbit、三星Gear或者Apple Watch等可穿戴设备时都嫌自己的手不够利索，那么你想象一下那些士兵“手拿着步枪、或在黑暗的环境中、或在枪林弹雨里”，他们如何利索地使用身上的可穿戴装备呢？这是可穿戴军事应用公司面临的一个挑战，在现代战争中，军队消耗的电池往往比子弹要多。



Intelligent Textiles Ltd（ITL）是英国一家军用设备公司，由Asha Thompson和Stan Swallow创立，他们公司的可穿戴军事设备结合了电子工程、产品设计和纺织技术。没错，就是纺织技术。这家公司把电子设备编织到织物中。注意不是简单的嵌入，而是一针一线那样纺织到产品本身中。

Thompson表示：“我们的键盘不是采用把塑料和电路板组成，而是把导电材料编织成可以发挥电路板功能的织物。”这样的技术可以把电子设备编织到织物里，像传统的纤维纺织一样。例如，现在非常热门的一些产品就是把一些电子设备编织进衣袖或者潜水服，帮助穿戴者保暖。这个技术支持利用智能织物材料取代传统的硬件材料。

Swallow在可穿戴技术展上发言时，很让人感到意外的是，他把他们公司描述得好像一家纺织公司在“假装成一家军事公司”。 不过他们确实是一家不折不扣的军事公司，他们把这个高科技织物技术已经应用到加拿大的IAV Stryker军用装甲车上。ITL公司开发了一款用一块织物制成的全键盘，已经在Stryker投入使用，取代了由100个零件组成的传统硬件键盘。这款织物键盘功能跟传统硬件键盘一样，它的好处是不会砸到士兵的头，不过也有一个不足：士兵再也不能把键盘当做进出战车的缓步台阶了。



ITL曾研发过多款军用装备，包括帮助士兵呼叫“空中支援”和“计算机支援”的JTAC装备；以及美国军事Nett Warrior装备的SWIPES装备组件，搭载了一个胸戴式三星Galaxy Note 2智能手机；还有英国军事公司BAE使用的Broadsword装备。

ITL目前正在研发一个“真正的可穿戴装备”Spirit，这个装备将应用于美国陆军和海军，将采用模块式、可伸缩、可感应和可暗藏的设计。



Thompson表示，这些护身防弹装备就好像“一座房子的电路网”，士兵的衣服表面上布满了内置的插头，用来连接电源和数据。“军队需要用到很多的插座，” Swallow表示。很多军用插座最初都是为装甲车内使用而设计的，不过ITL正致力研发可穿戴在士兵身上的接插件。

这就意味着这些接插件要提供足够多的插头，而且不管穿戴者是左撇子还是右撇子都可以轻易连接，如果一个插头坏了，穿戴者可以迅速地把收音机或者电脑换到另一个插头上。

“以前适用于装甲车上的接插件要求和标准不能照搬到可穿戴接插件上，” Swallow表示。士兵在装甲车时可以用两只手接插头，但是当士兵走出装甲车到达战场上就不是那么一回事了，他表示：“士兵在战场上很可能拿着一支步枪，那么他只能用一只手去接插头。而且他当时还很可能处于黑暗环境、或者害怕的状态、又或者处于枪林弹雨中。”

在现代战争中，一般士兵的装备包括武器、防弹衣、GPS、收音机、夜视装备等等。“整套武装”加起来大约50公斤重。“就相当于把一个女朋友扛在身上”，Swallow开玩笑道。“塔利班把我们的军队称作‘驴子’，因为我们的士兵身上扛着很重的装备，而且汗流浃背，而塔利班军人身上只带一支枪、一瓶水和一个手机。”

不过还有一个更加大的问题就是电源。ITL表示，军事作战消耗的电池比子弹还要多。部分原因是由于士兵会“浪费”掉70%的电池。为了保证战场上电池充足，在作战任务开始之前，他们需要更换所有的电池，这一个工程就需要花费40分钟。如果某个装备的电池盖掉了，不能像遥控器那样重新盖上继续使用，那个装备必须报废，不能上战场。

军用装备的设计要求和标准跟面向一般消费者的产品是不能相提并论的，因为军用设备的质量好坏关系到士兵的生死，不允许出现任何故障。但不同的军用装备的设计要求和标准也有高低之分：装甲车上的装备有别于士兵身上的装备。Thompson表示“为什么要在不必要的地方花钱呢？”



“据我们在加拿大军队的一位朋友计算，在战场上使用的AA电池是全宇宙最昂贵的电池，比他们发上太空的电池还要贵，”Swallow表示。“从你在商店买到一块电池那一刻算起到把它送到战争前线，短短的时间内，它的价钱至少会翻100倍。”

军事费用对于军队、政府和纳税人来说是一个重要的因素。ITL认为它的技术可通过利用织物纤维取代机械制造，帮助减少军事费用。Thompson表示：“我不能说它很便宜，但是它确实是相对便宜。”

“加拿大军队因为电线问题在7年前就向我们求助了，” Swallow回忆道。士兵不能使用无线技术，如蓝牙或者ZigBee，因为这些网络很容易被敌军侦破和破坏。不过“士兵不喜欢使用电线。电线在装甲车里面使用还好，可是把它放到士兵身上就出现麻烦了，它会不断缠绕，最终还可能变成敌方的杀人武器”。所以，ITL就探索如何利用织物来取代电线。“织物没有电线那么厚重、那么容易断掉，一块跟电线板宽度相近的织物可以散布相同数量的导体。它不仅可以减少负载，还更加柔软，而且还可以藏得防弹衣里面。

这些织物键盘的原理同样适用于电池。电池也可以通过编织成织物穿戴在士兵身上，而不是把它放置在设备或者装甲车里面。如果你觉得星巴克或者宜家家居的无线充电功能很酷，那么你来看看这个：Broadsword织物内置有感应充电板，可接收内置在战车座位内的无线充电板的电源，让士兵走出战车进行下一个任务时还可以继续为他们的装备充电。

Thompson把军事装备称作“科技动力”，ITL推出的系统“为一个真正的难题提供了解决方案”。

Wearables at war: How smart textiles are lightening the load for soldiers

LONDON -- If you thought your Fitbit, Samsung Gear or Apple Watch was a bit fiddly, imagine using a wearable while "holding a rifle, in the dark, when you're being shot at." That's the challenge facing companies building wearables for the military in a world of high-tech modern warfare that goes through more batteries than bullets.

One company developing wearables that aim to save lives is Intelligent Textiles Ltd (ITL), a British firm started by Asha Thompson and Stan Swallow that combines electronics engineering, product designer and knitting. Yes, knitting. The firm weaves electronics into fabric -- not embedding electronics, but weaving them into the product itself.

"Instead of plastic and circuit boards," says Thompson, "we use the conductive warp and weft to make up what these circuits can do." That allows technology to soup up items traditionally made from fabric, for example in fine-tuning which parts of a glove or deep-sea diver's suit are heated, ensuring the wearer is warm enough where needed without wasting the heating system's power. And it also allows versatile fabric to replace traditional hardware.

Speaking at the Wearable Technology Show here, Swallow describes ITL as a textile company that "pretends to be a military company...it's funny how you slip into these domains."


One domain where this high-tech fabric has seen frontline action is in the Canadian military's IAV Stryker armoured personnel carrier. ITL developed a full QWERTY keyboard in a single piece of fabric for use in the Stryker, replacing a traditional hardware keyboard that involved 100 components. Multiple components allow for repair, but ITL knits in redundancy so the fabric can "degrade gracefully". The keyboard works the same as the traditional hardware, with the bonus that it's less likely to fall on a soldier's head, and with just one glaring downside: troops can no longer use it as a step for getting in and out of the vehicle.

An armoured car with knitted controls is one thing, but where the technology comes into its own is when used about the person. ITL has worked on vests like the JTAC, a system "for the guys who call down airstrikes" and need "extra computing oomph." Then there's SWIPES, a part of the US military's Nett Warrior system -- which uses a chest-mounted Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone -- and British military company BAE's Broadsword system.

ITL is currently working on Spirit, a "truly wearable system" for the US Army and United States Marine Corps. It's designed to be modular, scalable, intuitive and invisible.

These body armour systems are "like a ring main in a house," as Thompson puts it, bristling with sockets built into the surface of the vest for power and data connections. "The military have a lot of different connectors," says Swallow. Many of those connectors were originally designed for use in a vehicle, but have been transferred into the kit that troops are expected to wear. So ITL is working to develop a connector for people.

That means connectors need to be versatile and accessible, whether the wearer is left- or right-handed. And if a socket breaks, the wearer needs to be able to simply move the radio or computer to a different socket.

"The requirements of the past go out of the window when you start thinking about a wearable for a person," says Swallow. Plugging something in when you're in a vehicle with two free hands is one thing, but a soldier in the field, he points out, "might only have one hand if you're holding a rifle. You might have to do it in the dark, when you're scared, when you're being shot at."

In modern warfare, a typical soldier is carrying their weapon, body armour, GPS, a radio, night vision kit and much more. That "battle rattle" adds up to about 50kg (110 pounds) of equipment -- "that's the weight of a pretty sizeable girlfriend", as Swallow puts it. "The Taliban apparently calls our troops 'donkeys' because they're carrying so much stuff and sweating, while [a Taliban fighter] is carrying a gun, a bottle of water and a cellphone."

But a bigger problem than humping all this kit is powering it. According to ITL, military forces go through more batteries than bullets -- partly because a soldier simply disposes of 70 per cent of that power. In order to ensure a battery doesn't fail in the field, at the beginning of a mission they will change all batteries, which can take 40 minutes. And if the battery cover of a piece of kit is lost, there's no taping the batteries in like you would with a TV remote: the equipment is rendered unusable.

Equipment for the military is designed to stand up to stresses and strains that consumer kit can only dream about, because in literal life-or-death situations, failure is not an option. But there are degrees of toughness: what a vehicle goes through is very different to what a person goes through. "Why build in cost when you don't need to?" asks Thompson.

"A friend of ours in the Canadian military worked out the electrons in an AA battery on the front line are the most expensive electrons in the solar system -- more expensive than the ones they send into space," Swallow said. "From the moment you buy a battery in [UK newsagent chain] WH Smith, the cost multiplies by at least a hundred by the time they ship it out to the front line."

Cost is an important factor to the military, the government and, ultimately, the taxpayer. ITL reckons its technology helps to keep costs down, with automatically woven fabrics replacing manufacturing processes in which teams of people solder kit together. "I'm not allowed to call it cheap," says Thompson, "but it's relatively inexpensive."

"We were asked for help by the Canadian military about seven years ago," remembers Swallow, "because they had this problem with cables." Soldiers can't use wireless technology such as Bluetooth or ZigBee, because they can be detected and jammed -- so wired technology it is. But "soldiers hate cables," says Swallow.

"They're fine inside a vehicle, but as soon as you put a cable on the human body it starts flexing, and over time that's what kills [the cable]." So ITL explores ways to replace wires with textiles. "Instead of being thick, heavy and prone to breaking, like a cable, textiles can spread the same number of conductors across a broad space. Not only does that save weight, it's also more flexible and can be disappeared into a garment such as a load-carrying or ballistic vest."

Those principles work for batteries too. Power packs can be purpose-built for the body rather than loading the soldier down with batteries designed to sit inside devices or vehicles. And if you thought wireless charging in Starbucks or Ikea furniture was cool, then check this out: the Broadsword vest includes an inductive charging plate that draws power from wireless charging plates built into the seats of vehicles, so soldiers can recharge their kit as they mount up and move to their next mission.

Thompson describes military kit as a case of "technology pull", with the systems designed by ITL "providing a solution to a real problem".

"It's like a technological swan," says Swallow. "It looks easy to use on the surface but it's working hard beneath the surface."

可穿戴设备其实不仅与我们普通人的生活息息相关，对于军事领域，一样起着重要的作用。比如Intelligent Textiles公司一直走在可穿戴技术军事应用领域的前沿，该公司最近推出了一款织物键盘以及一款织物充电装备，让士兵走出装甲车后还可以继续为身上的装备充电。

如果你在玩Fitbit、三星Gear或者Apple Watch等可穿戴设备时都嫌自己的手不够利索，那么你想象一下那些士兵“手拿着步枪、或在黑暗的环境中、或在枪林弹雨里”，他们如何利索地使用身上的可穿戴装备呢？这是可穿戴军事应用公司面临的一个挑战，在现代战争中，军队消耗的电池往往比子弹要多。



Intelligent Textiles Ltd（ITL）是英国一家军用设备公司，由Asha Thompson和Stan Swallow创立，他们公司的可穿戴军事设备结合了电子工程、产品设计和纺织技术。没错，就是纺织技术。这家公司把电子设备编织到织物中。注意不是简单的嵌入，而是一针一线那样纺织到产品本身中。

Thompson表示：“我们的键盘不是采用把塑料和电路板组成，而是把导电材料编织成可以发挥电路板功能的织物。”这样的技术可以把电子设备编织到织物里，像传统的纤维纺织一样。例如，现在非常热门的一些产品就是把一些电子设备编织进衣袖或者潜水服，帮助穿戴者保暖。这个技术支持利用智能织物材料取代传统的硬件材料。

Swallow在可穿戴技术展上发言时，很让人感到意外的是，他把他们公司描述得好像一家纺织公司在“假装成一家军事公司”。 不过他们确实是一家不折不扣的军事公司，他们把这个高科技织物技术已经应用到加拿大的IAV Stryker军用装甲车上。ITL公司开发了一款用一块织物制成的全键盘，已经在Stryker投入使用，取代了由100个零件组成的传统硬件键盘。这款织物键盘功能跟传统硬件键盘一样，它的好处是不会砸到士兵的头，不过也有一个不足：士兵再也不能把键盘当做进出战车的缓步台阶了。



ITL曾研发过多款军用装备，包括帮助士兵呼叫“空中支援”和“计算机支援”的JTAC装备；以及美国军事Nett Warrior装备的SWIPES装备组件，搭载了一个胸戴式三星Galaxy Note 2智能手机；还有英国军事公司BAE使用的Broadsword装备。

ITL目前正在研发一个“真正的可穿戴装备”Spirit，这个装备将应用于美国陆军和海军，将采用模块式、可伸缩、可感应和可暗藏的设计。



Thompson表示，这些护身防弹装备就好像“一座房子的电路网”，士兵的衣服表面上布满了内置的插头，用来连接电源和数据。“军队需要用到很多的插座，” Swallow表示。很多军用插座最初都是为装甲车内使用而设计的，不过ITL正致力研发可穿戴在士兵身上的接插件。

这就意味着这些接插件要提供足够多的插头，而且不管穿戴者是左撇子还是右撇子都可以轻易连接，如果一个插头坏了，穿戴者可以迅速地把收音机或者电脑换到另一个插头上。

“以前适用于装甲车上的接插件要求和标准不能照搬到可穿戴接插件上，” Swallow表示。士兵在装甲车时可以用两只手接插头，但是当士兵走出装甲车到达战场上就不是那么一回事了，他表示：“士兵在战场上很可能拿着一支步枪，那么他只能用一只手去接插头。而且他当时还很可能处于黑暗环境、或者害怕的状态、又或者处于枪林弹雨中。”

在现代战争中，一般士兵的装备包括武器、防弹衣、GPS、收音机、夜视装备等等。“整套武装”加起来大约50公斤重。“就相当于把一个女朋友扛在身上”，Swallow开玩笑道。“塔利班把我们的军队称作‘驴子’，因为我们的士兵身上扛着很重的装备，而且汗流浃背，而塔利班军人身上只带一支枪、一瓶水和一个手机。”

不过还有一个更加大的问题就是电源。ITL表示，军事作战消耗的电池比子弹还要多。部分原因是由于士兵会“浪费”掉70%的电池。为了保证战场上电池充足，在作战任务开始之前，他们需要更换所有的电池，这一个工程就需要花费40分钟。如果某个装备的电池盖掉了，不能像遥控器那样重新盖上继续使用，那个装备必须报废，不能上战场。

军用装备的设计要求和标准跟面向一般消费者的产品是不能相提并论的，因为军用设备的质量好坏关系到士兵的生死，不允许出现任何故障。但不同的军用装备的设计要求和标准也有高低之分：装甲车上的装备有别于士兵身上的装备。Thompson表示“为什么要在不必要的地方花钱呢？”



“据我们在加拿大军队的一位朋友计算，在战场上使用的AA电池是全宇宙最昂贵的电池，比他们发上太空的电池还要贵，”Swallow表示。“从你在商店买到一块电池那一刻算起到把它送到战争前线，短短的时间内，它的价钱至少会翻100倍。”

军事费用对于军队、政府和纳税人来说是一个重要的因素。ITL认为它的技术可通过利用织物纤维取代机械制造，帮助减少军事费用。Thompson表示：“我不能说它很便宜，但是它确实是相对便宜。”

“加拿大军队因为电线问题在7年前就向我们求助了，” Swallow回忆道。士兵不能使用无线技术，如蓝牙或者ZigBee，因为这些网络很容易被敌军侦破和破坏。不过“士兵不喜欢使用电线。电线在装甲车里面使用还好，可是把它放到士兵身上就出现麻烦了，它会不断缠绕，最终还可能变成敌方的杀人武器”。所以，ITL就探索如何利用织物来取代电线。“织物没有电线那么厚重、那么容易断掉，一块跟电线板宽度相近的织物可以散布相同数量的导体。它不仅可以减少负载，还更加柔软，而且还可以藏得防弹衣里面。

这些织物键盘的原理同样适用于电池。电池也可以通过编织成织物穿戴在士兵身上，而不是把它放置在设备或者装甲车里面。如果你觉得星巴克或者宜家家居的无线充电功能很酷，那么你来看看这个：Broadsword织物内置有感应充电板，可接收内置在战车座位内的无线充电板的电源，让士兵走出战车进行下一个任务时还可以继续为他们的装备充电。

Thompson把军事装备称作“科技动力”，ITL推出的系统“为一个真正的难题提供了解决方案”。

Wearables at war: How smart textiles are lightening the load for soldiers

LONDON -- If you thought your Fitbit, Samsung Gear or Apple Watch was a bit fiddly, imagine using a wearable while "holding a rifle, in the dark, when you're being shot at." That's the challenge facing companies building wearables for the military in a world of high-tech modern warfare that goes through more batteries than bullets.

One company developing wearables that aim to save lives is Intelligent Textiles Ltd (ITL), a British firm started by Asha Thompson and Stan Swallow that combines electronics engineering, product designer and knitting. Yes, knitting. The firm weaves electronics into fabric -- not embedding electronics, but weaving them into the product itself.

"Instead of plastic and circuit boards," says Thompson, "we use the conductive warp and weft to make up what these circuits can do." That allows technology to soup up items traditionally made from fabric, for example in fine-tuning which parts of a glove or deep-sea diver's suit are heated, ensuring the wearer is warm enough where needed without wasting the heating system's power. And it also allows versatile fabric to replace traditional hardware.

Speaking at the Wearable Technology Show here, Swallow describes ITL as a textile company that "pretends to be a military company...it's funny how you slip into these domains."


One domain where this high-tech fabric has seen frontline action is in the Canadian military's IAV Stryker armoured personnel carrier. ITL developed a full QWERTY keyboard in a single piece of fabric for use in the Stryker, replacing a traditional hardware keyboard that involved 100 components. Multiple components allow for repair, but ITL knits in redundancy so the fabric can "degrade gracefully". The keyboard works the same as the traditional hardware, with the bonus that it's less likely to fall on a soldier's head, and with just one glaring downside: troops can no longer use it as a step for getting in and out of the vehicle.

An armoured car with knitted controls is one thing, but where the technology comes into its own is when used about the person. ITL has worked on vests like the JTAC, a system "for the guys who call down airstrikes" and need "extra computing oomph." Then there's SWIPES, a part of the US military's Nett Warrior system -- which uses a chest-mounted Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smartphone -- and British military company BAE's Broadsword system.

ITL is currently working on Spirit, a "truly wearable system" for the US Army and United States Marine Corps. It's designed to be modular, scalable, intuitive and invisible.

These body armour systems are "like a ring main in a house," as Thompson puts it, bristling with sockets built into the surface of the vest for power and data connections. "The military have a lot of different connectors," says Swallow. Many of those connectors were originally designed for use in a vehicle, but have been transferred into the kit that troops are expected to wear. So ITL is working to develop a connector for people.

That means connectors need to be versatile and accessible, whether the wearer is left- or right-handed. And if a socket breaks, the wearer needs to be able to simply move the radio or computer to a different socket.

"The requirements of the past go out of the window when you start thinking about a wearable for a person," says Swallow. Plugging something in when you're in a vehicle with two free hands is one thing, but a soldier in the field, he points out, "might only have one hand if you're holding a rifle. You might have to do it in the dark, when you're scared, when you're being shot at."

In modern warfare, a typical soldier is carrying their weapon, body armour, GPS, a radio, night vision kit and much more. That "battle rattle" adds up to about 50kg (110 pounds) of equipment -- "that's the weight of a pretty sizeable girlfriend", as Swallow puts it. "The Taliban apparently calls our troops 'donkeys' because they're carrying so much stuff and sweating, while [a Taliban fighter] is carrying a gun, a bottle of water and a cellphone."

But a bigger problem than humping all this kit is powering it. According to ITL, military forces go through more batteries than bullets -- partly because a soldier simply disposes of 70 per cent of that power. In order to ensure a battery doesn't fail in the field, at the beginning of a mission they will change all batteries, which can take 40 minutes. And if the battery cover of a piece of kit is lost, there's no taping the batteries in like you would with a TV remote: the equipment is rendered unusable.

Equipment for the military is designed to stand up to stresses and strains that consumer kit can only dream about, because in literal life-or-death situations, failure is not an option. But there are degrees of toughness: what a vehicle goes through is very different to what a person goes through. "Why build in cost when you don't need to?" asks Thompson.

"A friend of ours in the Canadian military worked out the electrons in an AA battery on the front line are the most expensive electrons in the solar system -- more expensive than the ones they send into space," Swallow said. "From the moment you buy a battery in [UK newsagent chain] WH Smith, the cost multiplies by at least a hundred by the time they ship it out to the front line."

Cost is an important factor to the military, the government and, ultimately, the taxpayer. ITL reckons its technology helps to keep costs down, with automatically woven fabrics replacing manufacturing processes in which teams of people solder kit together. "I'm not allowed to call it cheap," says Thompson, "but it's relatively inexpensive."

"We were asked for help by the Canadian military about seven years ago," remembers Swallow, "because they had this problem with cables." Soldiers can't use wireless technology such as Bluetooth or ZigBee, because they can be detected and jammed -- so wired technology it is. But "soldiers hate cables," says Swallow.

"They're fine inside a vehicle, but as soon as you put a cable on the human body it starts flexing, and over time that's what kills [the cable]." So ITL explores ways to replace wires with textiles. "Instead of being thick, heavy and prone to breaking, like a cable, textiles can spread the same number of conductors across a broad space. Not only does that save weight, it's also more flexible and can be disappeared into a garment such as a load-carrying or ballistic vest."

Those principles work for batteries too. Power packs can be purpose-built for the body rather than loading the soldier down with batteries designed to sit inside devices or vehicles. And if you thought wireless charging in Starbucks or Ikea furniture was cool, then check this out: the Broadsword vest includes an inductive charging plate that draws power from wireless charging plates built into the seats of vehicles, so soldiers can recharge their kit as they mount up and move to their next mission.

Thompson describes military kit as a case of "technology pull", with the systems designed by ITL "providing a solution to a real problem".

"It's like a technological swan," says Swallow. "It looks easy to use on the surface but it's working hard beneath the surface."