Some of the elements of the ‘ambient IoT’ trend are long established, but are now coming together and advancing as IoT deployments scale up, creating demand for battery-less operation for both environmental and financial reasons. Steady progress is being made on the standardization front, with the 3GPP, IEEE and Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) all conducting studies designed both to support the electricity harvesting and to improve energy efficiency of small low power devices. The 3GPP views ambient IoT almost as a separate branch of cellular connectivity, as it moves to define a new air interface for such devices from Release 18 onwards – due for completion at the end of 2025. In anticipation of standardization, several technology companies in…