Abstract
The availability of sensors that can conveniently conform in shape to their imposed working environment has existed for quite some time with the earliest being for aerospace and medical applications. Most recently, there has been exponential growth in the field of flexible, printed, and organic large-area electronics and sensors are driven by applications including physiological/activity monitoring in wearables for e-Health, sports/recreational, and military personnel and the Internet of Things (IoT).

These new electronics and sensors are fabricated on flexible plastic substrates or are printed/woven into fabrics (e-textiles/smart fabrics), which offer advantages including low unit cost, mechanical robustness, shape conformity, light-weight, and low profile. The creation of these “non-classical” platforms is enabled by the high-throughput manufacturing processes of devices including for those over large areas using various technologies including Roll-to-Roll printing.

None speakers, including Roger Grace, representing the international “who’s who” in this topical area, will present several of the more interesting printed/flexible/stretchable(P/F/S) and e-textile /smart fabric (ET/SF) sensor technologies, their current and future applications and products that they enable. In addition to these sensors, we will address several other electronic functionalities and the challenges of their packaging and integration with other functional elements of basic wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Finally, barriers to the successful commercialization of these sensors and recommended strategies for market success will be presented.

Why This Should Matter to You
We expect attendees to leave the session with an excellent understanding of where the technologies have come from, where they are, where they are going, and what is necessary to help create more commercially viable P/F/S and ET/SF businesses, as well as where attendees can effectively participate in exploiting current and future major application opportunities for P/F/S and ET/SF sensors. This Sensors Converge 2023 Pre-Conference Symposium is expected to have the most highly concentrated and expansive effort to date to exclusively address the topic of P/F/S and ET/SF sensors.

Workshop Speakers Program Announced 
For more information on session speakers, visit the Workshop Speakers Program Page.

A complimentary lunch will be served between noon and 1 p.m.


PLEASE NOTE
If you prefer not to register for the "All Access Pass," you can register for just this PreCon session for $399 by clicking on the "Expo Hall Pass" section on the Registration Page. Admission to the Technical exhibit is FREE.

ABSTRACT:
The presentation will provide an overview of printed, flexible, stretchable, and e-textile sensors and accompanying electronics and their current and future enabled applications in Medtech/Recreational and Military wearables, IoT, and other significant opportunity sectors. An extensive worldwide overview of the activities of current suppliers’ technologies, products, and their applications, as well as highlights from leading domestic and international research organizations for future applications, will be addressed.

Additional topics to be addressed include:
• Motivation and benefits for using these types of sensors v/s alternative solutions
• Challenges of their integration and packaging with other functional elements in the various applications
• Manufacturing issues to create these heterogeneous and hybrid solutions from a materials, printing, and assembly a.k.a. “converter” perspective
• Barriers to the successful commercialization of these sensors and recommended strategies for market success with emerging opportunities