Challenges and Opportunities of circuits and systems on Internet of Things

This seminar aims to discuss the technical trends and challenges of circuits and systems on Internet of Things. Rapid advancement of networking technologies together with extreme miniaturization of computing and communication devices enable a host of new and exciting applications and services that connect the physical and the computational worlds. In the future, digital sensing, communication, and processing capabilities will be ubiquitously embedded into everyday objects, turning them into the Internet of Things (IoT). In this new paradigm, smart devices will collect data, relay the information or context to each another, and process the information collaboratively using cloud computing and similar technologies. This paradigm shift creates numerous challenges and opportunities for engineering. For example, in the future, enormous numbers of sensors will be deployed. The costs of servicing such sensors will be a major concern. It is often almost impossible to replace sensor batteries once they are in the field. Therefore, one major challenge is low power sensor design, or designs which do not require a battery change over the lifetime of the sensor. For example, if a sensor is deployed on an animal for tracking purposes, the battery of the sensor should outlive the animal. This creates a demand for energy-efficient designs. This seminar will discuss the challenges and opportunities of circuits and systems on Internet of Things.