Ambient Power-enabled Internet of Things: 3GPP Standardization Process

Ambient IoT is an attractive technology due to its low or zero maintenance by using technologies such as Energy Harvesting, Energy Efficient (EE) communication and zero energy IoT technologies. An Ambient power-enabled IoT device refers to an IoT device powered by harvesting energy from ambient environment, being either battery-less or with limited energy storage capability. With its self-power, ultra low-cost and smaller size, maintenance free and long life span (e.g. more than 10 years) characteristics, the Ambient IoT is predicted to be the next generation of IoT. The concept of ambient IoT is originally coined by 3GPP to be a new kind of IoT service for the verticals which need enabling of ambient power-enabled IoT with cellular networks. This paper reports ongoing study on Ambient IoT work by the third generation partnership project service & system aspects work group 1 (3GPP SA WG1) and Radio Access Network work group 1 (3GPP RAN WG1), which aim to study specific use cases and service requirements for 5GS (5G System) in support of ambient IoT devices with lower complexity, smaller size, reduced capabilities and lower power consumption. In this paper, the objectives of the 3GPP SA1 Ambient power-enabled IoT study item (SI) are summarized and some of the most interesting proposed use cases and functions are discussed. Moreover, the new potential requirements including the security requirements for 5GS related to Ambient IoT are also introduced.