NSF Award
2420434
Everyday paper objects such as calendars and grocery lists are easy and intuitive to work with. However, many of these objects are being replaced by apps on phones or computers. This replacement is not because the apps are easier to use than paper, or more accessible to people, but because adding computer connectivity to the task offers advantages such as the ability to share information at a distance, automatically maintain records over time, track usage, compile statistics, and many other capabilities; whereas tasks done with paper objects alone have typically been cut off from these benefits. This project seeks to develop new technology that bridges between paper objects and computer systems. The technology being developed will be very low cost -- eventually using just special inks printed on the paper without additional electronics -- and not require batteries or other local power sources on the paper object. Running without a battery and additional electronics will be accomplished using techniques to measure how the paper has been manipulated from a short distance away with a device such as a mobile phone. For example, this project will make it possible to sense when paper "buttons" have been pressed, check boxes marked, a paper tab has been torn off, or a sliding element has been moved left or right to indicate alternatives. By bridging between simple paper objects and the computerized world, the project will make it possible to combine the advantages of each in a way that brings the best of both worlds into everyday usage for a wide range of applications.<br/><br/>The interactive paper objects to be developed by this project will be implemented using backscatter radio techniques, where data is transmitted by reflecting or absorbing an incoming radio wave and without being connected to a power source. So, rather than actively emitting a radio signal, the interactive paper objects will respond with state information, such as how the object has been manipulated, by changing how the object reflects or absorbs various radio frequencies sent from an external transmitter, known as a "reader". Each paper object will be equipped with one or more antennas that have been designed to resonate at a particular set of frequencies. These antennas can be constructed at a very low cost on paper substrates because they can consist of only electrical conductors, and these conductors can be printed on the paper using special conductive ink, and/or placed on the paper in other simple ways. The paper objects will be designed so that physically manipulating them will change the critical characteristics of their antennas in some way. For example, one could disable or enable the entire antenna by either removing or moving into position a conductive element that effectively completes the conductive path of the antenna. Another possibility is shifting the response frequency of the antenna by adding or removing partial antenna elements. In general, this project will make use of the wide range of paper engineering techniques that have been developed for creating small paper mechanisms such as those used in pop-up books to create a range of new interactive paper device components of this form. To explore the space of possibilities in this area, project work will begin by using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which are inexpensive and commercially available, but which require an expensive reader. In parallel, project work will explore antenna-only techniques, as well as more advanced techniques, aimed at allowing the type of hardware already deployed in millions of mobile phones and other devices to provide the reader function.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
