This project performs fundamental cross-disciplinary cross-layered research into the design, implementation, and deployment of next-generation harvesting-based RFID-scale sensing technologies. The effort involves research at the CRFID hardware/software interface including energy management, data storage systems, and energy-aware computing to advance knowledge and understanding of zero-power pervasive devices. It addresses several fundamental research challenges including: 1) tradeoffs in energy harvesting, storage and usage that can make RFID sensors more programmable while not compromising energy-efficiency, 2) data storage systems that exploit probabilistic flash writes at low voltages, and that can tolerate frequent interruptions of power, and 3) energy management techniques that expose uncertainty-driven energy management interfaces, and schedule tasks in a harvesting-aware manner.
Direct economic and social impacts of this project are expected in the design, development, and deployment of next-generation RFID-based sensing applications and businesses including medical, environmental, energy, military, homeland security, and transportation. Other benefits include involvement of female minority graduate students in research, and involvement of minority graduate students through the NSF-funded Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP). Further, the research and teaching from the project impacts students across the Five Colleges, which includes two all-women's colleges, Smith and Mount Holyoke, whose students can enroll in courses taught at UMass because of the consortium's cross-registration policy. Curriculum development includes exposing students to challenges at the hardware/software boundary of ultra-low power devices through new or existing courses, tutorials in conferences, and seminars and demos in science fairs intended for high-schoolers.
