By 2025, experts say, the number of Internet of Things devices worldwide could exceed 21 billion. The sheer scale of this growth, coupled with the fast-paced evolution of 5G-and-beyond technologies, will create unprecedented challenges in sectors like security, telecommunications, and agriculture, observes Assistant Professor Francesco Restuccia. His research at the intersection of wireless communications, artificial intelligence, and embedded systems aims to meet that challenge.

At Northeastern’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things, Restuccia develops algorithms that use AI to identify and authenticate thousands of IoT devices and waveforms at once, without relying on energy-hungry cryptography techniques. He is enabling these devices to adapt in real time by reprogramming themselves on the fly. Through separate research on millimeter-wave mobile broadband systems, Restuccia wants to improve internet connectivity in rural areas.

Through the Roux Institute, Restuccia will establish new collaborations with institute partners and universities in Portland and Maine. He envisions sharing his lab’s progress with Maine’s entrepreneurs, helping to spin off companies that will bolster the Maine economy.