Internet of Meta-Material Things: A New Paradigm for Passive Wireless Sensing Systems

Passive wireless sensors have attracted much attention due to their battery-less characteristic in the Internet of Things. However, existing passive wireless sensors cannot reach satisfactory sensing accuracy and transmission range as part of the energy from wireless signals is used for signal processing. To address this issue, we design the meta-material sensors based on the specific working principle of simultaneous sensing and transmission. As a result, the transceiver can detect the sensing target by analyzing the reflected signals from the sensor, bypassing the signal processing at the sensor to further enhance its transmission range and sensing accuracy. In this article, we propose the Internet of Meta-material Things (meta-IoT), which encompasses meta-material sensors, as a new paradigm for passive wireless sensing systems. We begin with an introduction of meta-material sensors and then describe the meta-IoT system where sensing accuracy and transmission range are jointly optimized. In what follows, we present a prototype of the meta-IoT system for anomaly detection as an example. The experiment results show that 10x transmission range can be achieved compared to the state-of-the-art implementation with optimal sensing accuracy. Finally, potential extensions of meta-IoT systems and relevant research challenges are discussed.