Tagging objects in indoor spaces using ambient, distributed backscatter

1. A product tagging system, comprising:

at least one RF backscatter transmitter configured to emit (i) a main carrier RF signal, and (ii) Radio Frequency (RF) signals on two frequencies whose summation forms a twin carrier RF signal;

a passive RF backscatter tag associated with a product and configured to reflect and frequency shift the main carrier RF signal to a different frequency using the twin carrier RF signal; and

at least one RF backscatter receiver configured to read the product on the different frequency by detecting a distributed ambient backscatter signal generated by a reflection and frequency shifting of the main carrier RF signal by the passive RF backscatter tag.

2. The product tagging system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter is a commodity device sending the main carrier RF signal and the twin carrier RF signal through one or more interfaces thereof.

3. The product tagging system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter receiver is a commodity device receiving the distributed ambient backscatter signal on an interface thereof.

4. The product tagging system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter receiver coordinates transmissions of the main carrier RF signal and the twin-carrier signal from the at least one RF backscatter transmitter through wireless data scheduling mechanisms.

5. The product tagging system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter receiver uses a trigger mode of uplink scheduling in WIFI Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access transmissions to schedule the at least one RF backscatter transmitter on at most two resource units for transmission of the main carrier RF signal and the twin carrier RF signals.

6. The product tagging system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter uses one of two carrier tones of the twin carrier RF signal as the main carrier RF signal or uses a separate carrier for the main carrier RF signal.

7. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter comprises one RF interface to generate both the main carrier and twin-carrier signals.

8. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter comprises two RF interfaces, one of the two RF interfaces for generating the main carrier RF signal and another one of the two RF interfaces for generating the twin carrier RF signal.

9. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein reference signals from a resource unit of a standard wireless signal are leveraged by the at least one RF backscatter transmitter to serve as the twin carrier RF signal.

10. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein the frequency spacing between the two RF signals forming the twin carrier signal is appropriately chosen to obtain the frequency shift at the backscatter tag that delivers the distributed ambient backscatter signal to the at least one RF backscatter receiver.

11. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein the main carrier signal and the twin carrier signal are embedded into a packet format of wireless interfaces and protocols used by the at least one RF backscatter transmitter for transmission.

12. The product tagging system of claim 11 , wherein embedded packet and twin carrier signal information is obtained through a processing of a cyclic prefix, an Inverse Fast Frequency Transform, a constellation mapping, a Low-Density Parity Check encoding and one or more scrambling mechanisms at the at least one RF backscatter transmitter in reverse.

13. The product tagging system of claim 6 , wherein a packet format recognized by the at least one RF backscatter receiver is appropriately embedded into the packet format of an interface used by the at least one RF backscatter transmitter for transmission.

14. The product tagging system tagging system of claim 1 , wherein the passive RF backscatter tag uses passive non-linear elements along with the twin carrier signal from the at least one RF backscatter transmitter to frequency shift the main carrier RF signal to the different frequency during a backscatter process.

15. The product tagging system tag of claim 14 , wherein the passive RF backscatter tag modulates information onto a frequency-shifted carrier for reception at the at least one RF backscatter receiver.

16. The product tagging system tag of claim 14 , wherein the passive RF backscatter tag switches on or off a packet sent by the at least one RF backscatter transmitter to convey information on the frequency-shifted main carrier RF signal to the at least one RF backscatter receiver.

17. The product tagging system tag of claim 14 , wherein the passive RF backscatter tag encodes information on the frequency-shifted main carrier RF signal as a baseband signal conforming to a packet structure receivable by the at least one RF backscatter receiver on an interface thereof.

18. A method for product tagging, comprising:

emitting, by at least one RF backscatter transmitter, (i) a main carrier RF signal, and (ii) Radio Frequency (RF) signals on two frequencies whose summation forms a twin carrier RF signal;

reflecting and frequency shifting, by a passive RF backscatter tag associated with a product, the main carrier RF signal to a different frequency using the twin carrier RF signal; and

reading, by at least one RF backscatter receiver, the product on the different frequency by detecting a distributed ambient backscatter signal generated by a reflection and frequency shifting of the main carrier RF signal by the passive RF backscatter tag.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter uses one of two carrier tones of the twin carrier RF signal as the main carrier RF signal.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the at least one RF backscatter transmitter uses a separate carrier for the main carrier RF signal with respect to two carrier tones of the twin carrier RF signal that form the main carrier RF signal.