A Survey on Ambient IoT: Use Cases, Standardization, Enabling Technologies, and Research Directions

Abstract

Ambient IoT (A-IoT) is an emerging paradigm that enables connectivity for iot devices powered by ambient eh or rf wireless power transfer (WPT). This survey provides a holistic and detailed overview of the technology landscape, starting with device classification and environmental impact, and moving on to use cases and ongoing standardization efforts in 3gpp, ieee, and etsi. It reviews the technological building blocks of A-IoT devices, including energy harvesting and power management circuits, low-power wake-up and backscatter radios, and approaches for on-device and edge intelligence. At the network level, the paper explores architectures and protocols for WPT, low-power protocols for both backscatter and active communication, solutions for resource management, and A-IoT security protocols. Practical insights are drawn from experimental testbeds and real-world deployments. Finally, the survey outlines major research directions, from scalable WPT and interoperable protocols to context-aware scheduling, lightweight security, and reproducible field trials. This work provides a roadmap for researchers and industry to advance A-IoT as an integral part of future 6G networks.