Yet another amazing breakthrough has been announced by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Berlin, Germany. Called Smart Fabric, it’s a simple-seeming sheet of fabric that incorporates silver-coated conductive threads webbed together that are connected to a microcontroller. When weakened or broken by an intruder, it acts as an anti-intruder alarm, identifying the exact location of the break-in.

This remarkable fabric will be significantly cheaper than current burgler alarm systems and can be placed in a variety of surface areas – roof rafters, under floor tiles, even integrated in concrete and blockwork walls. And because the electrical current is so weak, it poses no hazard to children or pets.

The fabric can be trimmed to any size before it’s installed, as long as it’s no smaller than one square meter (10.76 sq ft). And lab tests show it stands up to repeated machine washings, high humidity, and temperatures ranging from -40ºC (-40ºF) to 85ºC (185ºF). No word yet when it might make it to the marketplace but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for!