New ECE and CARSE hire, Dr. Luis Esteban, offered his talk “Low-Power RFID Systems with Commodity Equipment for Short and Long-Range Communications.” as part of the CARSE 2025 Fall Seminar Series on 16 October. Abstract:

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications require cheap, simple, and low-power radios. These systems are typically battery-less and use backscatter technology to avoid the implementation of power-hungry transmitters. The use of UHF RFID systems is widespread. These systems often rely on expensive, proprietary equipment, primarily due to limited production volumes. To significantly reduce costs and allow easy integration with the Internet of Things (IoT), RFID systems should leverage commodity equipment. With WiFi infrastructure readily available in many settings, RFID systems can be cost-effectively connected directly to the internet. RFID WiFi systems using backscatter technology typically allow short-range high data rate transmission. On the other hand, LoRa is a robust protocol that uses Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) modulation to increase the communication distance at the expense of reducing the data rate. The development of such technologies presents several challenges, including the harvesting of RF power from the 2.45 GHz frequency band for WiFi and 915 MHz (North America) for LoRa and the development of RF integrated circuits with a power consumption of a few tens of microwatts. In this presentation, I will describe WiFi and LoRa backscatter technology, explore ongoing research opportunities, and propose solutions to overcome the challenges in developing efficient, low-power integrated circuits for such technologies.