Energy Efficiency Gains for Wireless Communication Systems Aided by Ambient Backscatter

Ambient backscatter is a new green technology that can enable batteryless tags or sensors to communicate with each other. In this paper, we combine ambient backscatter technology into traditional point-to-point wireless communication systems, and investigate its capacity and energy efficiency. Specifically, we build up the mathematical model for the new system with a sensor aided by ambient backscatter, derive its channel capacity, define the energy efficiency gain, and compare the capacity and energy efficiency performance of both traditional systems and backscatter aided systems. Simulations are then provided to corroborate our proposed studies.