6G • Services
Zero-Energy Ambient IoT Tag
Battery-Free Ambient Backscatter Internet of Things Terminal
Ultra-low-cost terminal device that operates without an internal battery by harvesting energy purely from ambient cellular, solar, or thermal sources.
Technical Explanation
Zero-Energy Ambient IoT represents an official 3GPP Release 19/20 track and 6G cornerstone. These miniature terminals modulate their antenna radar cross-section via backscatter communication to reflect existing ambient RF signals (from 6G base stations or Wi-Fi). Costing less than 5 cents and operating indefinitely without battery replacement, they enable ubiquitous supply chain tracking, smart agriculture, automated inventory, and embedded structural monitoring.
Key Functions
- Harvests microwatts of ambient RF energy to power internal logic
- Transmits data using modulated backscatter reflection without active RF synthesis
- Supports communication ranges of tens of meters in cellular micro-cells
- Enables lifetime zero-maintenance asset digitization
Specifications
3GPP TR 38.848 (Ambient IoT), ITU-R M.2160 Massive Connection
Interfaces
Backscatter RF LinkAmbient-UuNFC/RF Energy Harvesting
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