Integration of Backscatter-based Ambient Internet of Things to Cellular Communication Systems

The Internet of things (IoT) has gained significant attention in recent years, and it is seen as one of the key enabling technologies driving digital disruption in the society. Cellular IoT technologies offer a method to connect various sensor and actuator devices to the Internet by utilizing existing mobile networks. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has recently initiated a study on Ambient IoT (AIoT), aiming to develop a new Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) solution for mobile networks. This solution is intended to support devices requiring significantly lower power i.e., several orders of magnitude less power than existing 3GPP low-power wide-area connectivity solutions. Backscatter communication is considered as one of the key technology enablers for AIoT. In this paper, we explore how backscatter-based AIoT devices can be seamlessly integrated into existing 4G and 5G networks without requiring any modifications to the system specifications.