Handsfree communication systems these days tend to remain bulky and for military use and other operations such as police-forces, fire-fighters, astronauts and the like, this tends to be a pain the rear. Now, researchers at the Ohio State University are busy piecing together communication devices that are light weight, discreet and boast better signal ranges, all integrated in clothing. A lot better than those terribly large systems American soldiers backpack with, with antennas and terrible signal ranges, the new system uses etched brass, plastic film, and metallic thread and is being developed by associate professor Chi-Chih Chen and his team, sporting four-times the range of the conventional antennas used for mobile communication today.

[Ecouterre]