We introduce BackVLC, a system to connect battery-free IoT tags using LED bulbs. We make use of bulbs beyond illumination. We send data to the tags with visible light communication (VLC), and retrofit the bulbs with simple circuitry to enable the back-channel current VLC systems lack, using Radio Frequency (RF) backscatter communication from the tags. Tags process and send data, harvesting energy from light and radio. We present our system design and implementation, evaluate it in preliminary simulation studies and experiments, and discuss the research challenges to develop a complete network architecture. BackVLC is the first work that combines VLC with RF backscatter.

About Domenico Giustiniano

Dr. Domenico Giustiniano is Research Associate Professor (tenured) at IMDEA Networks Institute and leader of the Pervasive Wireless Systems group. Dr. Giustiniano is leader of the OpenVLC project, an open-source platform for research in visible light communication networks and co-founder of the non-profit Electrosense association, a crowd-sourcing initiative to collect and analyse spectrum data. Before joining IMDEA, he was a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at ETH Zurich. He also worked for a total of four years as Post-Doctoral Researcher in industrial research labs (Disney Research Zurich and Telefonica Research Barcelona). He holds a PhD in Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Rome Tor Vergata (2008).

This event will be conducted in English