Ultra-Low-Power IM3 Backscatter Passive Sensing System for IoT Applications

ObjectiveWith advances in wireless communication and electronic manufacturing, the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to expand across healthcare, agriculture, logistics, and other sectors. The rapid increase in IoT devices creates significant energy challenges, as billions of units generate substantial cumulative consumption, and battery-powered nodes require recurrent charging that raises operating costs and contributes to electronic waste. Energy-efficient strategies are therefore needed to support sustainable IoT deployment. Current approaches focus on improving energy availability and lowering device power demand. Energy Harvesting (EH) technology enables the collection and storage of solar, thermal, kinetic, and Radio Frequency (RF) energy for Ambient IoT (AmIoT) applications. However, conventional IoT devices, particularly those containing active RF components, often require high power, and limited EH efficiency can constrain real-time sensing transmission. To address these constraints, this work proposes an Intermodulation-Product-Third-Order (IM3) backscatter passive sensing system that enables direct analog sensing transmission while maintaining RF EH efficiency.MethodsThe IM3 signal is a nonlinear distortion product generated when two fundamental tones pass through nonlinear devices such as transistors and diodes, producing components at 2f1–f2 and 2f2–f1. The central contribution of this work is the establishment of a controllable functional relationship between sensor information and IM3 signal frequencies, enabling information encoding through IM3 frequency characteristics. The regulatory element is an embedded impedance module designed as a parallel resonant tank composed of resistors, inductors, and capacitors and integrated into the rectifier circuit. Adjusting the tank’s resonant frequency regulates the conversion efficiency from the fundamental tones to IM3 components: when the resonant frequency approaches a target IM3 frequency, a high-impedance load is produced, lowering the conversion efficiency of that specific IM3 component while leaving other IM3 components unchanged. Sensor information modulates the resonant frequency by generating a DC voltage applied to a voltage-controlled varactor. By mapping sensor information to impedance states, impedance states to IM3 conversion efficiency, and IM3 frequency features back to sensor information, passive sensing is achieved.Results and DiscussionsA rectifying transmitter operating in the UHF 900 MHz band is designed and fabricated (Fig. 8). One signal source is fixed at 910.5 MHz, and the other scans 917～920 MHz, generating IM3 components in the 923.5～929.5 MHz range. Both sources provide an output power of 0 dBm, and the transmitted sensor information is expressed as a DC voltage. Experimental measurements show a power trough in the backscattered IM3 spectrum; as the DC voltage varies from 0 to 5 V, the trough position shifts accordingly (Fig. 9), with more than 10 dB attenuation across the range, giving adequate resolution determined by the varactor diode’s capacitance ratio. The embedded impedance module shows minimal effect on RF-to-DC efficiency (Fig. 10): at a fixed DC voltage, efficiency decreases by approximately 5 basis points at the modulation frequency, independent of input power, and under fixed input power, different sampled voltages cause about 5 basis points of efficiency reduction at different frequencies. These results confirm that the rectifier circuit maintains stable efficiency and meets low-power data transmission requirements.ConclusionsThis paper proposes a passive sensing system based on backscattered IM3 signals that enables simultaneous efficient RF EH and sensing readout. The regulation mechanism between the difference-frequency embedded impedance module and backscattered IM3 intensity is demonstrated. Driven by sensing information, the module links the sensed quantity to IM3 intensity to realize passive readout. Experimental results show that the embedded impedance reduces the target-frequency IM3 component by more than 10 dB, and the RF-to-DC efficiency decreases by only 5 percentage points during readout. Tests in a microwave anechoic chamber indicate that the error between the IM3-derived bias voltage and the measured value remains within 5%, confirming stable operation. The system addresses the energy-information transmission constraint and supports battery-free communication for passive sensor nodes. It extends device lifespan and reduces maintenance costs in Ultra-Low-Power scenarios such as wireless sensor networks and implantable medical devices, offering strong engineering relevance.