SELect Projects
Modulated Noise Communication
Low-power wireless communication, such as backscatter, has played a critical role in enabling very low-power, battery-free sensing. Compared to conventional wireless communication methods, backscatter communication is orders of magnitude less power-consuming because the transmitting device (or tag) does not need to generate a carrier signal and instead reflects and absorbs an existing signal in order to modulate information bits. This existing signal can be a generated RF source (e.g., RFID) or an ambient RF source (e.g., TV or FM broadcast signal). A drawback with existing backscatter communication solutions is their dependence on a nearby RF source.
In this work, we demonstrate that is possible to wirelessly transmit information bits without the use of a generated or ambient RF source. Instead, we use Johnson (thermal) noise to modulate data bits. By selectively connecting and disconnecting an unpowered resistor to an antenna, data can be modulated and wirelessly transmitted.
PUBLICATIONS:
Communication by Means of Modulated Johnson Noise, PNAS 2022
Modulated Noise Communication: Reading UHF RFID Tags without a Carrier, IEEE RFID 2023
Cosmic Backscatter: New Ways to Communicate via Modulated Noise, ACM HotNets 2023
ARTICLES:
Device transmits radio waves with almost no power - without violating the laws of physics, The Conversation, Jan. 2023
FEATURED IN:
The Conversation, Fast Company, Electronics Weekly, TechXplore, Hackaday
FarmBeats: AI and IoT for Agriculture
FarmBeats is an end-to-end IoT platform for data-driven agriculture. FarmBeats solves several key challenges related power, connectivity, and cost in order to enable long-term and seamless data collection in resource constrained environments. The system has been deployed on farms worldwide and is an on going effort. More information about the FarmBeats system can be found here.
PUBLICATIONS:
FarmBeats: An IoT Platform for Data-driven Agriculture, NSDI 2017
Experiences Deploying an Always-on Farm Network, GetMobile 2017
Low-cost aerial imagery for small holder farmers, ACM Compass 2019
Democratizing Data-Driven Agriculture using Affordable Hardware, IEEE Micro 2022
WHISPER: IoT in the TV White Space Spectrum, NSDI 2023
ARTICLES:
FEATURED IN:
BBC, The Economist, Gates’ Notes, Forbes, Business Insider, Economic Times, TechCrunch, Agri-Pulse, Fruit Grower Network, SIAM News, and many more.
MEDIA:
FarmBeats @AAAS 2020
The Female Farmer Project [Listen Here]