Data Assistance Cellular Signal Based Ambient Backscatter Receiver

Previous studies have shown that Ambient Backscatter Communication (AmBC) is effectively supported by User Equipment (UE) using LTE downlink pilot signals, which transmit frequently for reliable channel estimation. However, the New Radio (NR) systems transmit these signals less often, potentially degrading backscatter link performance. This paper suggests enhancing AmBC receiver performance by utilizing both downlink data and reference signals for channel estimation. We demonstrate that incorporating data symbols alongside pilot symbols significantly improves AmBC performance. Our theoretical and simulated analyses reveal that data-assisted AmBC achieves a 12dB gain at a BER of 10⁻⁴ and an SNR of −3dB.