Harmonizing Energy Harvesting and Backscattering Communications Through Agile Power Allocation

Backscatter communication (BackCom) emerges as a promising solution for the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem due to its low-power operation, which provides a potential for power autonomy through radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting(EH) technology. However, the dynamic power allocation tuning between communication and powering is still a challenge. To overcome it, in this paper we propose an agile power allocation strategy by integrating the EH circuit into backscatter modulator, i.e. employing it as one of the load elements in the backscatter tag. The power allocation can thus be dynamically adjusted in the time domain, utilizing a square wave with variable duty cycles to fine-tune the power ratio digitally. Our approach balances the backscatter system in communication and powering, providing a scalable solution adaptable to most existing BackCom systems.