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Intelligent and Converged Networks 2020, 1(2): 170-180 https://doi.org/10.23919/ICN.2020.0013
Open Access | Issue | Published: 01 December 2020

Backscatter technologies and the future of Internet of Things: Challenges and opportunities

Show Author's Information Chaochao Yao,  Yang Liu,  Xusheng Wei,  Gongpu Wang*( ),  Feifei Gao
Beijing Key Lab of Transportation Data Analysis and Mining, School of Computer and Information Technology, Beiijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Beijing Institute of Aerospace Control Devices, Beijing 100854, China
VIVO Mobile Company, Beijing 100015, China
Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Keywords:
Internet of Things (IoT), ambient backscatter, backscatter communications, battery-less sensor, Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
Cite this article:
Yao C, Liu Y, Wei X, et al. Backscatter technologies and the future of Internet of Things: Challenges and opportunities. Intelligent and Converged Networks, 2020, 1(2): 170-180. https://doi.org/10.23919/ICN.2020.0013
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Abstract Full text About this article

Energy source and circuit cost are two critical challenges for the future development of the Internet of Things (IoT). Backscatter communications offer a potential solution to conveniently obtain power and reduce cost for sensors in IoT, and researchers are paying close attention to the technology. Backscatter technology originated from the Second World War and has been widely applied in the logistics domain. Recently, both the academic and industrial worlds are proposing a series of new types of backscatter technologies for communications and IoT. In this paper, we review the history of both IoT and backscatter, describe the new types of backscatter, demonstrate their applications, and discuss the open challenges.


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About this article

Backscatter technologies and the future of Internet of Things: Challenges and opportunities

Show Author's information Chaochao Yao, Yang Liu, Xusheng Wei, Gongpu Wang*( ), Feifei Gao
Beijing Key Lab of Transportation Data Analysis and Mining, School of Computer and Information Technology, Beiijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Beijing Institute of Aerospace Control Devices, Beijing 100854, China
VIVO Mobile Company, Beijing 100015, China
Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Energy source and circuit cost are two critical challenges for the future development of the Internet of Things (IoT). Backscatter communications offer a potential solution to conveniently obtain power and reduce cost for sensors in IoT, and researchers are paying close attention to the technology. Backscatter technology originated from the Second World War and has been widely applied in the logistics domain. Recently, both the academic and industrial worlds are proposing a series of new types of backscatter technologies for communications and IoT. In this paper, we review the history of both IoT and backscatter, describe the new types of backscatter, demonstrate their applications, and discuss the open challenges.

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), ambient backscatter, backscatter communications, battery-less sensor, Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 13 May 2020
Revised: 16 August 2020
Accepted: 30 September 2020
Published: 01 December 2020
Issue date: September 2020

Copyright

© All articles included in the journal are copyrighted to the ITU and TUP 2020

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2020YJS044) and in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61871026 and U1834210).

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© All articles included in the journal are copyrighted to the ITU and TUP. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/.

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