Positioning Energy-Neutral Devices: Technological Status and Hybrid RF-Acoustic Experiments

Abstract

The digital transformation is exciting the uptake of Internet-of-Things technologies, and raises the questions surrounding our knowledge of the positions of many of these things. A review of indoor localization technologies summarized in this paper shows that with conventional RF-based techniques, a significant challenge exists in terms of achieving good accuracy with a low power consumption at the device side. We present hybrid RF-acoustic approaches as an interesting alternative: the slow propagation speed of sound allows for accurate distance measurements, while RF can easily provide synchronization, data, and power to the devices. We explain how the combination of adequate signaling realizing a late wake-up of the devices with backscattering could position energy-neutral devices. Experiments in a real-life testbed confirmed the potential 10 cm-accuracy based on RF-harvested energy. Nonetheless, these also expose open challenges to be resolved in order to achieve accurate 3D positioning.