Graduate Seminar
Hacking the RF Phy: Wireless power
transfer, RF sensing, battery-free
communication and beyond
Alanson Sample
Research Scientist
Disney Research,
Pittsburgh
Thursday, December 3rd 4:30 PM
Scaife Hall 125
Abstract:
ECE Seminar Committee
Aswin Sankaranarayanan
saswin@ece.cmu.edu
Nicolas Christin
nicolas@andrew.cmu.edu
Harnessing the power of electromagnetic waves has changed how we live, play, and
work. While the semiconductor industry has focused on enabling faster, cheaper, and
lower power wireless devices, there is the opportunity to use these underlying
technologies to re-examine the RF physical layer and explore novel means of using
electromagnetic waves for sensing, communication, and energy transfer. Typically, this
means taking key insights from circuit theory and physics to create new devices and
capabilities, and then building end-to-end systems that allow researchers to explore
how this new technology can impact our lives.
This talk presents an overview of several ongoing research projects at Disney
Research. First, IDSense uses commercially available, long-range RFID tags to enable
battery-free human object interaction detection. Usage examples include activity
inferencing in the home or office, interactive toys, and the identification of consumer
shopping habits. Next, EM-Sense employs a software-defined radio to sense the EMI
signals generated by un-modified electromechanical devices. When built in to a smart
watch the EMI signatures traveling through the body can be detected and classified in
real-time, enabling robust on-touch object detection across a wide range of consumer
electronics, household appliances, and electrical tools. Finally, work on resonant cavity
mode wireless power transfer is presented. This new form of wireless power delivery
allows tens of devices to be simultaneously recharged, at high efficiency, when placed
in nearly any location or orientation with in a large metallic chamber or storage cabinet.
Bio:
Alanson Sample is a Research Scientist at Disney Research in Pittsburgh. His research
focuses on enabling new guest experiences and sensing and computing devices by
applying novel approaches to electromagnetics, RF and analog circuits, and embedded
systems.
Prior to joining Disney, he worked at Intel Labs in Hillsboro on energy harvesting for
wearable and Internet of Things applications. He also held a postdoctoral research
position in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of
Washington. There he developed methods of wirelessly powering implanted heart
pumps, known as LVADs.
Alanson received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2011 from the University of
Washington. Throughout his graduate studies, he worked full time at Intel Research
Seattle where he published several articles and patents on the use of magnetically
coupled resonance for wireless power delivery, as well as RFID, and ambient RF
energy harvesting.
Alanson was one of the key contributors to the Wireless Identification and Sensing
Platform, which was open-sourced in 2009 as part of Intel's WISP Challenge. His
research interests lie broadly in the areas of wireless communication, RF and analog
circuit design, embedded systems, and novel sensors.
SEMINAR NOTES: (REFRESHMENTS SERVED AT 4 PM)