Ambient Backscatter

Two days back while I was just browsing through my facebook wall I suddenly stuck at a post. One of my friends shared a post titled "Ambient backscatter promises battery-free communications". It was indeed a catchy title and I couldn't restrain myself to read it further. The post referred to an invention made by researchers in University of Washington. 

They developed an RFID like device which works without battery. It is a credit card size sensor which utilizes the RF signals present in the ambiance due to TV and cellular transmissions. Remember the early cellphone covers in which LEDs used to glow before an incoming call? The principle is similar. But this technology, as researchers claim, is different from RFID in three ways-

1. It uses ambient RF signals so doesn't require a power/battery infrastructure.

2. Very low environmental footprint as it doesn't add to existing power consumption and RF-pollution

3. It provides a device to device communication unlike RFID which deploys a Transmitter-Reader approach.

Before understanding how the system works let's understand a very ancient mode of communication Centuries before even Electromagnetic waves were discovered. Primitive man used fire and than drum-sound to convey messages. A little further in time mirrors came to practice where sunlight was reflected to signal a particular message or alert for war. It was a 1-bit communication in modern sense. Now think of continuous pattern of reflections and non-reflections with time delays producing morse code. That could be an advanced version of the same technology. But going further for multiple reflection is not easy to decode by eyes. Optical fibers in essence to the same but using trans-receivers. 

  

Now, let's head back to back-scattering. The system uses exactly the same technique for ubiquitous RF signals. A device's antenna can either reflect or not-reflect the TV signals it receives creating '1' and '0' bits. The receiver receives an additional path of the TV signal other than the original paths it captured and receives the packet sent by transmitter. The researchers have developed a networking stack over this basic technique so that multiple devices can coexist.

Although the technology is in its primitive stage it can be extremely useful in space missions, sensor networks, multi-robot collaboration, touchless payments, ID cards and eventually replacing NFC.

Augmented & Immersive Media (AIM)

As a kid I grew up experimenting with my toys and household electronics devices. I was curious and amazed by the variety of devices I used to see around me. As I grew older I started playing with wires and circuits without even knowing how they internally work but that didn't stop me to use them in a way I wanted them to work. The real exploration began when I entered into college and realized that whatever I learned as a kid was on the blackboards with more sophisticated terminologies and mathematical equations. I just started loving those lectures. I would ask questions to understand how things worked in a particular way and what if I make some change. My first hand experience with circuits clearly quadrupled my rate of learning. In next few years I used my knowledge in several projects related to natural user interfaces, embedded systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, natural language processing and communication systems. In recent few years I developed further interest in pervasive computing, cognitive interfaces, assistive technologies,cyber physical systems, machine learning, augmented reality and bio-robotics.

Now it all comes to a point where I find myself surrounded by so many terms that when someone asks me about my interests I find it difficult to put forward a single term. I research on web to find a term as broad as my interests yet so specific and meaningful. Someone suggests Interactive Design and another says Human Computer Interaction and yet another proposes Immersive Technologies but none of them was an exhaustive term. Therefore, I tried coming up with my own term - 'Augmented and Immersive Media'. By which I mean everything which is augmented over and immersed into the most basic setting and has some trans-formative and futuristic value. In this process my purpose is not to toss another term into the existing flood but to find a safer companion.