Prof. Fadel M Adib

Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences
Founding Director, Signal Kinetics Group
Co-Founder, Cartesian Systems
Co-Founder, Emerald

Research Summary

Professor Adib's research is focused on three interconnected themes: sensing inside the human body by investigating the attenuation of radio frequency signals inside living tissue; developing new techniques for wireless communication in underwater environments; and investigating two-frequency excitation systems that improve localization and sensing accuracy. Adib is the founding director of the Signal Kinetics Group in the MIT Media Lab, which develops new sensor technologies for health, computing, and climate.

Recent Work

  • Video

    2023-Vienna-Adib

    March 29, 2023Conference Video Duration: 24:56
    Sensing the Physical World in Unprecedented Ways

    RD-11.15-16.2022-Adib

    November 16, 2022Conference Video Duration: 26:24
    Fadel Adib
    Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science , Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

    10.15.20-ICT-wireless-communication-Fadel-Adib-Hari-Balakrishnan

    October 15, 2020Conference Video Duration: 107:2

    The evolution of communication technologies over the past 140 years has enabled ubiquitous connectivity with billions of sensors globally. However, today’s technologies still face fundamental obstacles, which prevent them from seamlessly extending to complex domains like the ocean, the human body, or supply chain environments. 
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    When radios communicate with each other, the transmitter spreads its signal in all directions. Hence only a small fraction of what is transmitted hits the receiver. Radios with multiple antennas can beamform, i.e., direct their signal so more of it reaches the receiver. How precisely a radio can beamform depends fundamentally on its size; a larger radio with more antennas can direct its signal better than smaller radios. Unfortunately, practical constraints on mobile and IoT devices prevent us from making radios large.

    10.13.20 New Vehicle Sales Mobility

    October 13, 2020Conference Video Duration: 97:30
    Mobility-as-a-Service and the Future of New Vehicle Sales
    David Keith
    Assistant Professor, System Dynamics, MIT Sloan School of Management
    Senseable mobility: turning vehicles into multi-sensing platform to better understand the city and driver’s behavior
    Fabio Duarte
    Principal Research Scientist, Senseable City Lab