Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Large-Scale Wireless-Powered Networks With Backscatter Communications

The Proliferation of connected and embedded devices has played a critical role in the development of next generation Internet of Things (IoT), and consequently, the diffusion of low power networks. The sustainability of such networks entails energy aware devices that are capable of self-sustainable operations by harvesting and recycling energy from various sources. Accordingly, integration of wireless-powered networks (WPN) with ambient backscatter communications (AmBC), in which a backscatter transmitter conveys data to a destination by backscattering ambient signals, has recently emerged as a promising key technology for low power wireless networks. However, these technologies are not optimized and/or designed for large-scale networks and a massive number of IoT devices.