CHIP FIRM Infineon said it has succeeded in building semiconductors into carpets, which could lead not only to LED illuminated rugs but fire and burglar alarms built into the fabric of a building. The firm said that it has succeeded in building a prototype of the technology but will market and sell microelectronics within two years, in cooperation with carpeteers and rugsters.
Aside from the obvious benefits of offering fire alarms and illuminated guidance systems to help people get out of buildings, Infineon said that the system could also be used to locate burglars. It also said the fabric is likely to be used building Zeppelins*, and in the construction industry, for building sensory information about defects.
The chips within the fabric locate themselves within a self-sensoring network and link to four adjacent chips using conductive threads, creating a neural fault tolerant network. If there"s a break in the thread, the network reorganises itself to find another pathway between the chips.