The idea behind the smart TrainGrid t-shirt or e-shirt, which is being developed by the European Space Agency and start-up Emxys, is to help athletes or those training for the local 5k run monitor in real-time everything from heart rate and skin temperature to body position and even location via a satellite link-up.
According to Emxys the shirt features embedded sensors in the fabric and supports Bluetooth connection to tie into a cell phone, PC, PDA or any Bluetooth device with serial port service. A Flash StorageTrain application can store athlete data, which will be able to be transferred to other device afterwards, using USB or Bluetooth connections.
Data can be uploaded it to TrainGrid's social network, which is focused to manage a coaching program an plan the team training activity for professional or leisure activities, the company stated.
With the shirt users will be able to get GPS coordinates, electrocardiogram, heart rate, body temperature, 3D body position and health alerts. It can detect and report falls or other problems the athlete may encounter.
The ESA has noted the shirt can be used to monitor the health of remote machine operators, improving their safety.
"Most of today's monitoring aids for athletes, even the high-end ones, are very inaccurate and record so few parameters that both professional and amateur athletes continue to use pencil and paper to track their training," explains Dr Jose Antonio Carrasco, CEO of Emxys said in a statement."With TrainGrid e-shirt and you can track your route, know if you are getting quicker, check if your friends are running and verify your heart rate."
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