Abstract: We are entering a post-smartphone era, where zillions of new wireless devices compete for the already limited radio spectrum (RF) to obtain wireless connectivity. Addressing the problem of spectrum crunch demands radical new thinking. In this talk, I will present our journey in exploring light as a new spectrum territory, which provides ten thousand times wider bandwidth than RF for wireless communication. Additionally, the physical properties of light offer unique benefits for object tracking and behavioral sensing. I will highlight two recent works as examples on light-based communication and sensing. The first work exploits laser light to enable bi-directional, high-bandwidth air-water communication to facilitate efficient underwater robotic operations. The second work advances light sensing to enable noninvasive glucose sensing for diabetic patients using portable, low-cost, and off-the-shelf hardware. I will conclude with open challenges and ongoing work.

Bio: Xia Zhou is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, where she co-direct the Dartmouth Networking and Ubiquitous (DartNets) Laboratory and Dartmouth Reality and Robotics Lab (RLab). Her research interests lie broadly in mobile computing with recent focuses on light based communication and sensing, mobile sensing, and human-computer interactions. She is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) in 2019, SIGMOBILE RockStar Award in 2019, the Karen E. Wetterhahn Memorial Award for Distinguished Creative and Scholarly Achievement in 2018 and named as N2Women: Rising Stars in Networking and Communication in 2017. She also won the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2017, NSF CAREER Award in 2016, and Google Faculty Research Award in 2014. She received her PhD at UC Santa Barbara in 2013 and MS at Peking University in 2007.