The Internet of MetaMaterial Things and their software enablers

Abstract

A new paradigm called the Internet of MetaMaterial Things (IoMMT) is introduced in this paper where artificial materials with real-time tunable physical properties can be interconnected to form a network to realize communication through software-controlled electromagnetic, acoustic, and mechanical energy waves. The IoMMT will significantly enrich the Internet of Things ecosystem by connecting anything at any place by optimizing the physical energy propagation between the metamaterial devices during their lifetime, via "eco-firmware" updates. First, the means for abstracting the complex physics behind these materials are explored, showing their integration into the IoT world. Subsequently, two novel software categories for the material things are proposed, namely the metamaterial Application Programming Interface and Metamaterial Middleware, which will be in charge of the application and physical domains, respectively. Regarding the API, the paper provides the data model and workflows for obtaining and setting the physical properties of a material via callbacks. The Metamaterial Middleware is tasked with matching these callbacks to the corresponding material-altering actuations through embedded elements. Furthermore, a full stack implementation of the software for the electromagnetic metamaterial case is presented and evaluated, incorporating all the aforementioned aspects. Finally, interesting extensions and envisioned use cases of the IoMMT concept are discussed.