Research

Internet of Things (IoT) is a vast network of internet-enabled objects that are connected to facilitate the collection and exchange of data. This concept is set to alter the way the world operates, by improving our ability to obtain autonomous information. Sensors are the key components, embedded into the “things,” which generate such information called “Big data.” Therefore, IoT makes extensive use of sensor technologies in order to empower any application under its realm. However, current sensors are expensive, restricting the mass industry adoption of IoT application areas such as precision agriculture (PA), maintenance management, smart buildings, and retail and supply chain. This creates the necessity of inexpensive, compact, and real-time sensors for these application areas, in order to gain better industrial traction. Ideally, the smart sensors used in IoT should have the ability to identify and locate items. Recent advancements in wireless sensor networks have paved the way for combining sensor and sensing technologies with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. The most exciting facet of RFID lies in the fact that the concept of IoT emerged from it. Even though IoT has expanded well beyond its starting point, RFID still keeps playing a significant role in its ever-evolving growth. To that end, our research is focused on the development of low-cost and compact RFID tag-sensor nodes for various applications. 

While IoT And RFID technologies remain the main theme, the interdisciplinary and collaborative approach of our research has resulted in a diversified research direction. The core elements that help develop the RFID based sensing system are the narrow and wide band antennas, microwave passive metamaterial resonators, characterization of smart materials in UWB frequencies, and finally, integration of these materials in the passive design to enable physical sensing of tagged objects. Through the investigation of these core elements, the RF-Connect Lab aims to realize a better-connected world.