Firefighting is a perilous job which, even with modern technology, still endangers the lives of every professional firefighter. Communication and situational awareness are crucial for safe and efficient firefighting missions. Smart Textiles (textiles with enhanced functionality in form of electronic elements) can support the hazardous work of the firefighters. To increase the safety and efficiency of such interventions a data-transmitting rope is developed, the "Smart Lifeline". By means of such a data-transmitting safety rope information can be exchanged between the firefighter inside the building and the mission commander.The Smart Lifeline is based on traditional lifelines. These are ropes, which are deployed as the firefighter advances through a building. Lifelines provide directions for the retreat, so that the firefighter can find the exit in smoky environments under zero visibility quickly and safely.In this thesis the development of the Smart Lifeline is described. Data leads are integrated into the rope and strategies for contacting electronic devices inside and outside the rope are devised, developed and verified. A structured methodology is applied in order to find solutions for a set of requirements towards the Smart Lifeline. These requirements include- the integration of data leads into the rope structure- achieving a sufficient signal transmission quality- developing contacting technologies for connecting electronic devices to the rope- regarding producibility aspects- investigating heat protection strategies- investigating water protection strategies.Following vdi guideline 2221 a set of solutions is developed for each of these aspects. After developing the solutions each one is tested and verified to identify feasible and non-feasible development paths. As a final result a prototype of the Smart Lifeline, including multiple signal leads and adaptors to access the leads inside the rope, is produced and tested. The thesis closes with an economic analysis of the production cost by means of a flexible calculation tool to assess the cost connected with the production of braided data lines.