Find the Gap: Multi-Band, Remote Measurement System to Quantify the Fit of Wearable Systems
Team: Justin Geeslin, Brad Holschuh (PI)
Program: Wearable Technology Lab
Garment fit is critical in wearable systems and functional garments, including masks and other PPE, and yet no methods exist that can reliably quantify the fit characteristics of non-translucent or non-form fitting garments. We propose a technique for remotely measuring the gap between an external wearable device or clothing surface and the underlying, visually-obstructed body surface – which we refer to as the garment-body “air gap” – that commonly occurs in positive ease garments (i.e., garments that are larger in dimension than the underlying body dimension). To do this, we developed a triple frequency band remote measurement system that is based on a 77-81GHz FMCW radar, 40kHz Ultrasound sensor, and an Infrared 344GHz distance sensor, which when used synergistically allows for remote measurement of the uniaxial distances to multiple layered surfaces simultaneously.
Keywords: Wearable Technology, Garment Fit, Human-centered computing, Emerging tools and methodologies, mmWave
Funders: Grant-in-Aid Program, UMN Office of the Vice President for Research
