The
positive interaction of the classic
Electromagnetics with the Materials Science,
Computer Science, Sensors, Medicine,
Mechanics and Electronics may originate thePervasive
Electromagnetics, a cross-discipline with the
potentiality to provide the physical layer of the
emerging Internet of Things that enables the Internet
to get into the Real World of physical objects. Things equipped with
electronic labels, having both identification and
sensing capability, could be turned into digital
entities readable from remote.
The RadiofrequencyIdentification
(RFID) technology offers the
natural substrate to achieve such features,
provided that the basic physics governing the
sensing and electromagnetic interaction
phenomena is fully exploited.
Thanks to multidisciplinary research,
the Pervasive
Electromagnetics Lab aims to develop
new radio devices for short-range sensing,
ready to be seamlessly embedded into objects,
plants, buildings as well as over and even
inside the human body with application to
Smart City, Precise Agriculture, and
e-Health. Some concepts of distributed
antennas have been also applied to Space
Satellites with the purpose to develop
installation-friendly and reconfigurable
systems.
RADIO6ENSE
is the University spinoff of the Pervasive
Electromagnetics Lab.
RESEARCH
Wearable,
Epidermal and Implantable radio-sensors
This research is
expected to produce one of the key
technologies to enable the personal
E-Health
of tomorrow, wherein the person, through
his own smartphone, will become the
primary hub of data collection about his
own body.
Short-range passive sensing of chemical-physical
parameters
We are making progress in
the development of chemical-loaded antennas
embedding carbon nanotubes and conductive
polymers with the aim to remotely detect the
presence and the amount of some gas such as
ammonia, humidity and ethanol.
Embedded radio-sensors for structural deformations
Thanks to a collaboration with Civil
Engineering researchers we are developing
strain-gauge like RFID tags useful to be
embedded into or over concrete walls,
pillars or a around a crack to remotely
sense the Health of a Structure. Electromagnetic effort is oriented
to govern and shape the antenna
backscattering in presence of time-dependent
boundary conditions.
Very recently some
experiments put into evidence the
possibility to set up a tag to tag
communication by exploiting the
electromagnetic coupling mechanism among
antennas. Theoretical and experimental
investigations are under development to
understand how fabricate grids of
interacting RFID tags according to the
paradigm ofubiquitous
computing.
Distributed antenna system over naval and satellite
platforms
The concept of distributed
antennas is also being applied to the new
paradigm of Satellite communication systems. In
collaboration with the European Space Agency we
are developing simple-shape plug and play
antennas provided with tuning capability and
suited to be allocated into clusters of any
configuration to produce omnidirectional as well
directive and tracking patterns.