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Pushing the Boundaries of Wireless Sensing Technologies

In May 2024, TheNetworkingChannel hosted a thought-provoking expert panel titled New Frontiers in Wireless Sensing. This session brought together leading researchers from institutions such as MIT, CMU, Microsoft Research Asia, EPFL, IMDEA, UMass and HKUST. Each speaker offered a unique perspective on how wireless sensing is evolving into a foundational capability across domains ranging from healthcare and robotics to ocean and space exploration.

The session began by addressing joint communication and sensing with unsynchronised transceivers. Joerg Widmer (IMDEA Networks) demonstrated how millimetre wave systems, despite relying on single RF chains and operating with unsynchronised clocks, can still achieve accurate multipath decomposition by employing cross-correlation techniques. These enable compensation for timing and frequency offsets, which are otherwise significant challenges in multistatic and passive localisation scenarios.

Jie Xiong (Microsoft Research Asia and UMass) presented two novel approaches to sensing. The first was quantum wireless sensing, which replaces conventional RF receivers with quantum receivers based on Rydberg atoms. These atoms enable signal detection with significantly enhanced granularity by exploiting quantum-level transitions. The second approach, leakage-based sensing, leverages ambient electromagnetic leakage from power lines and electric vehicles, using the human body as an antenna to detect motion-related changes without the need for dedicated transmissions.

Fadel Adib (MIT) expanded the scope of wireless sensing into environmental and planetary-scale applications. His work on underwater backscatter networking offers a solution to the energy constraints faced by battery-powered ocean sensors. By reflecting acoustic signals rather than generating them, sensors can transmit data with ultra-low power, enabling long-term monitoring of ocean health and climate conditions. His team also showcased the world’s first battery-free underwater camera, with potential use cases extending to extra-terrestrial oceans on moons such as Europa and Enceladus.

Haitham Hassanieh (EPFL) focused on enhancing the resolution of millimetre wave radar to improve perception in autonomous vehicles. Standard automotive radars suffer from low resolution and multipath distortions. By combining high- and low-resolution radar heatmaps and applying self-supervised learning with simulated datasets, his team demonstrated improved 3D imaging and object detection performance, even under dense fog or poor visibility.

Qian Zhang (HKUST) addressed wireless sensing in healthcare, particularly using contactless methods. Her group explored a range of solutions including acoustic sensing for pulmonary assessment via earbuds and millimetre wave-based detection of conditions like dry eye disease. By integrating edge AI with physical signal processing, these systems can perform real-time diagnostics and therapy monitoring in home environments.

Finally, Swarun Kumar (CMU) introduced the concept of wireless actuation — the idea of going beyond sensing to actively controlling the environment using wireless signals. He showcased systems such as software-defined cooking, where RF energy is precisely controlled inside a microwave chamber for uniform heating. He also presented applications in soft robotics, where wireless energy is used to activate shape-changing mechanisms for navigation through constrained environments like pipes.

Overall, the panel demonstrated how wireless sensing is no longer just a complementary capability. It is emerging as a primary interface for perceiving, understanding and even interacting with the physical world. These advancements are not only expanding the possibilities of connectivity but also reshaping how we monitor health, explore inaccessible environments, and build intelligent, adaptive systems.

You can watch the full panel discussion below:

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