Towards Microscale NFC-Enabled IoT Sensors: Physical and MAC Layer Design Analysis

Abstract

Microscale sensors provide critical solutions in diverse fields, ranging from measurement, automation, and control in industrial, agricultural, and biomedical applications. However, their development is limited by many requirements and challenges, such as efficient powering and the selection of suitable wireless communication technologies. A number of wireless communication technologies have been deployed in these sensors, including terahertz (Thz) radio frequency and ultrasound. Designing sensors in micro-scale imposes challenges for any communication technique deployed. This paper investigates the use of magnetic induction-based backscatter communication in a microscale sensor. The aim here is to provide both physical and media access control (MAC) layer design analysis for a microscale mote that is powered inductively and communicates with a reader using backscattering. Magnetic induction-based communication and powering are demonstrated via analysis and simulation for the mote. Then, low-power modulation, error-correction coding, and suitable low-power MAC schemes with evidence of feasible implementation in microscale are explored. Results of the performance analysis indicate that the proposed design achieves communication at a range of at least a few centimeters (5−6 cm) with an acceptable bit error rate (BER). Finally, MAC layer analysis reveals the optimum number of motes to be deployed for various read delays and transmission rates. INDEX TERMS Microscale mote, near-field communication, IoT sensor, low-power modulation, resource-constrained MAC.

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“…However, the huge (and increasing) number of connected devices, along with the requirement for fast, reliable, and cost-effective data transmission, pose a challenge for these kinds of systems [5]. Several Radio Frequency (RF)-based wireless technologies have been used to provide Internet of Things (IoT) services: WiFi [6], Bluetooth [7], Near-Field Communication (NFC) [8], or Zigbee [9], and also Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies such as SigFox [10], NB-IoT [11], or LoRa/LoRaWAN [12]. Nevertheless, these technologies present some drawbacks, such as Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), a limited frequency spectrum, and, in some cases, a lower data rate [5].…”