ECE Colloquium: Pushing the Limits of Mobility in the Wireless Internet of Things

One vision of Internet of Things (IoT) is to provide seamless connectivity and sensing. IoT devices are deployed densely in space to enable ubiquitous intelligence; and are connected wirelessly to support high-throughput data exchange. These devices are also becoming increasingly mobile, such as IoT-powered inventory management, personal robots and autonomous cars. However, the current network stack lacks primitives to support the desired connectivity, management and services of densely deployed mobile IoT devices. In this talk I will present three solutions to push the limits of mobility in wirelessly connected IoT devices. The first system, STPP, leverages mobility to localize RFID tagged objects with a median accuracy of 8.6 centimeters. This system has been commercialized and deployed in Peking Capital International Airport for baggage tracking. The second system, MobiTagbot, is an autonomous wheeled robot reader that conducts a roving survey of libraries, manufacture lines, and offices to achieve an exact spatial order of RFID tagged objects in 2.9 centimeters granularity. The third system, Wi-Fi Goes to Town, provides seamless wireless connectivity for high speed automobiles by very small wireless cells. Finally, I will conclude with a future research vision centered around building low-power, secure and scalable IoT systems.