The older I get, the more I recall how new technologies made their way onto the market and into the collective consciousness when I wore a younger man’s clothes. Paradoxically, it also seems that the older I get, the more I forget, but since I don’t remember what I’ve forgotten, this really doesn’t prey, play, or weigh on my mind.

In the case of technologies that impinge on the unwashed masses (of which I’m a proud card-carrying member), a technological introduction is invariably accompanied by lots of messaging. Take the internet, for example. Although the underlying technology had been evolving since the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1993, with the release of the Mosaic web browser, that most people became aware of its existence.

As part of this, email addresses and web URLs began to appear at the bottom of our TV screens, accompanying things like news programs. In turn, the newscasters often ended up spending a part of the program explaining what these strange items were, what they were for, how they were used, and—on several occasions—how to pronounce the ‘@’ character in email addresses.

Similarly, in a 1985 speech, American technology pioneer Peter T. Lewis introduced the concept of the Internet of Things. According to Wikipedia, he said: “The Internet of Things, or IoT, is the integration of people, processes, and technology with connectable devices and sensors to enable remote monitoring, status, manipulation, and evaluation of trends of such devices.” The “Internet of Things” nomenclature was coined independently by Kevin Ashton of Procter & Gamble, later of MIT’s Auto-ID Center, in 1999.

In the early 2000s, authors and presenters would almost invariably spell out “IoT” and define it, often beginning with a phrase like, “The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to…” Somewhere around 2015, we reached an inflection point when large companies began promoting the IoT as a central pillar of future technology. Industry conferences and product marketing started using “IoT” as a given, especially in phrases like “IoT security,” “IoT analytics,” and “IoT devices.” Around this time, the average tech-savvy reader didn’t need a definition, although mainstream publications often still included one. By 2020, the term “IoT” had become self-explanatory in most industry and general technology writings, much like “AI” or “USB”. Now, definitions appear only if the audience is very broad and nontechnical, or in summaries for corporate executives (bless their little cotton socks).

The IoT has evolved into a broad ecosystem. As it has matured, different “flavors” or subcategories have emerged—each tailored to specific industries, environments, or use cases. For example, we have the Industrial IoT (IIoT), whose focus is manufacturing, factories, utilities, oil & gas, and heavy machinery; the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT), whose focus is connected sensors and systems in tactical environments; the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), whose focus is medical devices, remote monitoring, hospital assets; and the Consumer IoT (CIoT), which focuses on homes, wearables, and personal devices.

There are a lot of other use cases, like the Logistics & Supply Chain IoT (tracking goods, vehicles, and assets), the Smart Building and Smart Home IoT (environmental control, energy efficiency, security), the Smart City IoT (infrastructure, public safety, utilities, mobility), the Agricultural IoT (farming, livestock, irrigation, crop monitoring), and the Satellite IoT (remote regions where terrestrial networks don’t reach), but none of these have been gifted with cool abbreviations… yet.

Speaking of cool abbreviations, one I do like is the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). This refers to the fusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). It brings intelligence to the edge by enabling IoT devices not just to collect and transmit data, but to analyze, learn from, and act on that data autonomously. The IoT provides the sensors and connectivity (data gathering), while the AI brings the data processing, pattern recognition, and decision-making. Together, they create intelligent, adaptive systems that can respond in real-time—often without human intervention or cloud dependency.

Another IoT flavor that’s not yet mainstream but is gaining traction is the “Ambient IoT.” Unfortunately, we can’t claim this as the AIoT because the Artificial Intelligence of Things has already appropriated this abbreviation (we live in an AI-eats-AI world).

The Ambient IoT refers to a pervasive network of tiny, often battery-free, connected devices that are embedded in the environment or in everyday objects. These devices collect and transmit data passively or actively, enabling real-time tracking, monitoring, and intelligence at a massive scale. Did you see the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once? In the not-so-distant future, the Ambient IoT may be the equivalent of adding networked intelligence to everything, everywhere, all at once (sometimes I amaze even myself with my meandering musings).

In some ways, I cannot wait for this to happen. For example, over the past few years, my home has been plagued by problems pertaining to leaks (in dishwashers, refrigerators, sinks, and showers) and malfunctioning appliances. Based on this, I would love to have a network of “cheap and cheerful” (affordable and reliable) Ambient IoT sensors embedded into the fabric of my home, conversing with each other and with my home’s AI, and alerting me to problems as soon as they happen (or, preferably, before they happen). Of course, I’m not oblivious to the potential problems (see also Is AI Poised to Run Amok?).

As a reminder, we discussed an example of this in an earlier column: What if Your Strawberries Could Talk? In that article, we introduced a company called Wiliot, which builds ultra-low-cost, battery-free tags (called IoT Pixels) capable of sensing and transmitting data by harvesting energy from ambient radio signals, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular. These smart tags enable continuous, item-level digital visibility across supply chains and asset tracking, feeding data into the cloud, where AI-powered analytics help companies optimize logistics, reduce waste, and ensure safety and compliance.

Wiliot at Shufersal Farm (Source: Wiliot)

This is just a taste (mmm, strawberries) of things to come. In the not-so-distant future, we will be up to our metaphorical knees in Ambient IoT sensors. We are talking about a very large number of very small sensors. However, small as they may be, these sensors still need power.

Ambient IoT devices typically operate in the microwatt to milliwatt range. Advances in ultra-low-power chips, protocols (like Bluetooth LE), and energy-aware design are key enablers. Ideally, they will harvest this power from the environment, thereby eliminating the need for batteries. Various methods of energy harvesting may be used, including the following:

• Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting from ambient RF signals.
• Light (photovoltaic) energy harvesting from sunlight or artificial light sources.
• Thermal (thermoelectric) energy harvesting from temperature gradients.
• Mechanical energy harvesting using piezoelectric materials to generate electrical charge under mechanical stress from mechanical movements like vibrations.
• Electrostatic/triboelectric energy harvesting from friction or movement between different materials.
• Magnetic induction/electromagnetic energy harvesting from changing magnetic fields.
• Pneumatic/barometric energy harvesting from fluctuations in air pressure.

All of these are of interest, but the focus of this column is the energy harvesting of ambient RF signals from sources like TV towers, cellular base stations, Wi-Fi routers, or dedicated RF transmitters.

Now, if I were implementing something like this myself, then rather than relying on the whims of the fates in the form of external sources, I’d rather use dedicated RF transmitters. All of which brings us to the guys and gals at Energous, who are leaders in RF-based, over-the-air (OTA) wireless power technology, particularly for Ambient IoT and asset-tracking deployments.

In addition to powering third-party sensors and tags, such as Wiliot’s Pixel Tags, the chaps and chapesses at Energous also boast (nay, flaunt) their own e-Tag product, but that’s not what we want to talk about here. The lads and lasses at Energous also offer a suite of PowerBridge transmitter systems. Only one such device is shown in the image below, but multiple devices could be scattered throughout a large facility, and they can also appear in boats, trucks, and various other locations.

High-level network topology (Source: Energous)

In addition to beaming power to sensors and tags at 900MHz, PowerBridge units also gather data from these devices using Bluetooth communications. This data can be used locally (in a factory, for example) or fed to a gateway device, and from there into the cloud.

None of us knows what the future holds, but I’m prepared to wager that we will be hearing a lot more about the Ambient IoT—which will play an increasingly prominent role (in an unassuming way)—in the years to come. What say you? Do you have any thoughts you’d care to share on any of this?