Ambient IoT: Powering and Connecting the Next Information Frontier

The Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned to open up exciting new opportunities to gather and use data - from insights about our environment and food supply, to monitoring our health, and beyond. However, most current IoT deployments are rather uninspiring: nobody cares about a new smart toaster, for example. Instead, the future of IoT will be driven by small, ambiently-powered sensors, designed to communicate directly with smartphones, WiFi routers, and other existing infrastructure in order to provide for ultra-low-cost and pervasive deployment, all while providing insightful, actionable information to end users.
In order to get to the enabling sizes and power levels needed to enable this vision, research in ultra-low-power wireless communication technologies, sensor interfaces, power management, and energy harvesting is needed. This presentation will outline my vision and research progress on each of these topics towards the next generation of Ambient IoT applications. Specifically, we will dive into the design of energy-efficient RF receivers that wake-up in response to standards-compatible signatures, discuss standards-compatible backscatter modulators that consume 1,000x lower power than conventional transceivers, demonstrate ultra-high-dynamic range sensor interface electronics robust to motion artifacts, introduce new topological innovations in integrated power electronics that improve efficiency and power density, and describe new directions in biofuel-based energy-harvesting and self-powered sensing systems. Together, innovations in these areas will help pave the way for small, efficient, and cost-effective ambiently-powered devices.

Speaker: Patrick Mercier, UC San Diego