Protocols and Algorithms for a Sustainable Internet of Things

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We define as Internet of Things (IoT) the massive and ubiquitous deployment of embedded, usually wireless, communication devices, installed into everyday life objects. Estimates of the IoT scale suggest that, in the not-so-distant future, it will consist of tens of billions of devices! The vast deployment scale of IoT devices has the potential to be the cause of a massive e-waste problem looming on the horizon. Yet, if we ask today how the IoT devices and systems should be designed to extend their useful life to multi-decade, and ideally perpetual, operation, we cannot point to a comprehensive answer. The proposed research program addresses the question of what can be done today at the algorithmic, protocol, and systems level, towards making IoT sustainable. The proposal outlines a systematic approach, with tools and methodologies, to build this long-lasting IoT. The systematic approach described consists of four main components: (a) adding failure resilience for various applications during the design stage, as well as, developing generic means to handle failures during operation, (b) enabling the devices to identify when communication is impaired by interference and endow them with mechanisms to handle broad classes of interference, including as-of-yet-unknown forms, (c) aligning the communication protocol with the application logic, using specialized scheduling, to reduce the energy consumption required to meet the application communication requirements, and (d) harvesting energy from the immediate device environment to attain self-powered operation and autonomy. In the proposed research program, I describe a number of technical approaches to these four directions and plans to empirically validate our methods and tools in the context of our ongoing projects in designing, installing, and programming sensor systems for smart assisted living environments and energy efficient buildings.