The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) have spent years developing a purely textile-based gas detection technology. It can be integrated deeply into many textile structures during conventional industrial production without affecting wearability, washability, durability, impermeability, reflectivity or mechanical properties. The sensitivity can be tuned to specific gases or extended to detect new ones. In military use, a sensor in a combat shirt is sensitive enough to detect that a diesel vehicle recently crossed a forest path. The same sensor can go into uniforms, truck tarpaulins, tents and camouflage nets, and networking them creates a distributed sensor system for wide-area situational awareness. For civil protection, the technology can be used in mobile disaster-rel ...