Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted VLC for battery-free IoT devices Projects uri icon

type

  • European Research Project

reference

  • 101061853

date/time interval

  • January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2025

abstract

  • The vast development of smart communication devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) is incurring an ever-increasing demand of
    wireless data services and energy sources. It is expected to witness a growth of connected IoT devices in the next few years, reaching
    up to tens of billions. Currently, these devices rely on batteries for its operation, but the battery recycling is a delicate matter that has
    a negative environmental impact due to their chemical components. Thus, it is reasonable to think that future communication
    systems must comply with energy-efficiency standards by minimizing the use of batteries, and then reduce its carbon footprint.
    The main objective of RISA-VLC is to enable battery-free IoT devices by engineering, thanks to reflective intelligent surfaces (RIS), the
    propagation channel of the Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology. To this end, I will retrofit the pervasive deployment of
    indoor LEDs to provide a robust communication link and an enhanced light power received at IoT devices. In the outgoing phase at
    University of Virginia I will characterize RIS to perform the additional channel path, which I will also model. Then, I will study its effect
    in the communication and lighting performance. In the return phase at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid I will research novel
    signal-processing and communication techniques to exploit the manageable channel proposed during the outgoing phase. Besides, I
    will establish guidelines for creating battery-free VLC-enabled IoT devices. The training activities proposed are fundamental for the
    achievement of RISA-VLC and my personal career goals.
    RISA-VLC guarantees a three-way transfer of knowledge since it combines my past experience in theoretical VLC techniques and VLC
    prototyping, with supervisors' expertise on optimization of systems, VLC reflection exploitation and advanced signal processing and
    communication techniques.

keywords

  • wireless communications; communication; high frequency; mobile technology; signal processing; networks (communication networks, sensor networks, networks of robots, etc.); internet of things; free keywords visible light communication; reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; energy harvesting; line-of-sight link blockage