NEWS

AMBIENT BACKSCATTER-ASSISTED PASSIVE RELAYING WITH ENERGY HARVESTING: PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS


(Received: 11-Dec.-2025, Revised: 1-Feb.-2026 , Accepted: 22-Feb.-2026)
Ultra-energy-efficient communication solutions are required as Internet of Things (IoT) devices proliferate in the shift to 6G networks. In this paper, a novel architecture that uses energy harvesting (EH) protocols to integrate Ambient Backscatter Communication ( ���� ) as a passive relay is investigated. An energy-constrained backscatter device uses a power splitting (PS) mechanism to both reflect its information to the destination and harvest energy for circuit activation. The main contribution of this work is the development of new and accurate closed-form expressions for the system outage probability (OP) over Rayleigh fading channels. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to rigorously validate the accuracy of the proposed analytical framework. The analysis reveals important trade-offs between transmission reliability and energy-harvesting efficiency, providing valuable insights for resource optimization in future low-power IoT networks. The results demonstrate that the adverse effects of imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) and/or imperfect channel state information (CSI) can be effectively mitigated by increasing the transmit power and/or operating at the optimal value of the reflection coefficient. Moreover, the performance gap between perfect and imperfect SIC and CSI is shown to be relatively small. Finally, we analytically prove that the linear EH model serves as an upper bound for the practical nonlinear EH model.

[1] S. Dang, O. Amin, B. Shihada and M.-S. Alouini, "What Should 6G Be?," Nature Electronics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 20-29, DOI: 10.1038/s41928-019-0355-6, Jan. 2020.

[2] H. Pennanen et al., "6G: The Intelligent Network of Everything," IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 1319-1421, DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3521579, 2025.

[3] W. Jiang, B. Han, M. A. Habibi and H. D. Schotten, "The Road towards 6G: A Comprehensive Survey," IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 2, pp. 334-366, 2021.

[4] W. Wu et al., "A Survey on Ambient Backscatter Communications: Principles, Systems, Applications and Challenges," Computer Networks, vol. 216, p. 109235, DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2022.109235, 2022.

[5] M. A. Jamshed et al., "Artificial Intelligence, Ambient Backscatter Communication and Non-terrestrial Networks: A 6G Commixture," IEEE Internet of Things Magazine, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 88-94, 2025.

[6] C. Liaskos et al., "Realizing Ambient Backscatter Communications with Intelligent Surfaces in 6G Wireless Systems," IEEE Wireless Communications, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 178-185, Feb. 2022.

[7] H.-N. Nguyen et al., "Secure Performance Analysis of Satellite-terrestrial Networks-assisted Backscatter Device," Jordanian J. of Computers and Inform. Techn. (JJCIT), vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 484-498, Dec. 2025.

[8] D. L. Galappaththige, F. Rezaei, C. Tellambura and S. Herath, "RIS-empowered Ambient Backscatter Communication Systems," IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 173-177, 2023.

[9] H. Yang et al., "A RIS-segmented Symbiotic Ambient Backscatter Communication System," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 812-825, 2024.

[10] A.-T. Le et al., "Performance Analysis of RIS-assisted Ambient Backscatter Communication Systems," IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 791-795, 2024.

[11] S. Jia et al., "Secrecy Performance Analysis of UAV-assisted Ambient Backscatter Communications with Jamming," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 12, pp. 18111-18125, 2024.

[12] J. Liu et al., "Intelligent Reflecting Surface-aided Covert Ambient Backscatter Communication," IEEE Trans. on Communications, vol. 72, no. 6, pp. 3558-3571, 2024.

[13] T. N. Nguyen et al., "On the Performance of Secured Ambient Backscatter Communications to Protect Digital Content and Copyrights," IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 195385-195400, 2025.

[14] H. Zhu et al., "Machine Learning-based Blind Signal Detection for Ambient Backscatter Communication Systems," IEEE Trans. on Cognitive Comm. and Netw., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1172-1183, 2025.

[15] J. Chen, Q. Guan, Y. Rong and H. Yu, "Detections for Ambient Backscatter Communications Systems with Dynamic Sources," IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 73, no. 9, pp. 7941-7951, 2025.

[16] J. Liao, T. Zhang, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti and D.-T. Phan-Huy, "Ambient Backscatter Communication in LTE Uplink Sounding Reference Signal," arXiv preprint, DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2501.10952, 2025.

[17] M. Tran et al., "Outage Analysis of a Hybrid Relay-Backscatter Communication System with Energy Harvesting for IoT and 6G Networks," IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 188605-188617, 2025.

[18] X. Liu, H. Wang, K. Zheng and K. Chi, "Throughput Maximization of IoT Transmission in STAR-RIS-aided Symbiotic Radio Networks," IEEE Internet of Things J., vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 3371-3388, Jan. 2026.

[19] L. S. Phu et al., "Enhancing Short-packet Communications: BLER Performance in RIS-assisted Ambient Backscatter NOMA Systems," PLOS ONE, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 1-26, 2025.

[20] Y. Ye, L. Shi, X. Chu, G. Lu and S. Sun, "Mutualistic Cooperative Ambient Backscatter Communications under Hardware Impairments," IEEE Trans. on Communications, vol. 70, no. 11, pp. 7656-7668, 2022.

[21] K. Zheng et al., "DDPG-based Joint Time and Energy Management in Ambient Backscatter-assisted Hybrid Underlay CRNs," IEEE Trans. on Communications, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 441-456, Jan. 2023.

[22] T.-H. T. Pham et al., "Performance Analysis in D2D Partial NOMA-assisted Backscatter Communication," Advances in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 250-262, 2025.

[23] Q.-S. Nguyen et al., "Power Beacon-assisted Energy Harvesting in D2D Network under Co-channel Interferences: Symbol Error Rate Analysis," Jordanian Journal of Computers and Information Technology (JJCIT), vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 517-532, 2025.

[24] X. Liu, J. Xu, K. Zheng, G. Zhang, J. Liu and N. Shiratori, "Throughput Maximization with an AoI Constraint in Energy Harvesting D2D-enabled Cellular Networks: An MSRA-TD3 Approach," IEEE Trans. on Wireless Communications, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 1448-1466, Feb. 2025.

[25] G. Moloudian et al., "RF Energy Harvesting Techniques for Battery-less Wireless Sensing, Industry 4.0, and Internet of Things: A Review," IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 5732-5745, 2024.

[26] B. Y. León Ávila et al., "Energy Harvesting Techniques for Wireless Sensor Networks: A Systematic Literature Review," Energy Strategy Reviews, vol. 57, p. 101617, 2025.

[27] J. Zhou et al., "Metamaterials and Metasurfaces for Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Harvesting," Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 110, no. 1, pp. 31-55, DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2021.3127493, 2022.

[28] Y. Albaihani et al., "Optimal Antenna Design for Wireless Energy Harvesting System in ISM Band," Results in Physics, vol. 73, p. 108255, DOI: 10.1016/j.rinp.2025.108255, 2025.

[29] P. Zhang, X. Zhang and L. Li, "An Optically Transparent Metantenna for RF Wireless Energy Harvesting," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 2550-2560, 2022.

[30] Q.-S. Nguyen, C.-H. Tran, T.-D. Tran, M. Tran and B.-S. Kim, "Securing Wireless Communications with Energy Harvesting and Multi-antenna Diversity," Jordanian Journal of Computers and Information Technology (JJCIT), vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 197-210, DOI: 10.5455/jjcit.71-1732244909, Jun. 2025.

[31] B. V. Minh et al., "Self-energy Recycling in DF Full-duplex Relay Network: Security-Reliability Analysis," Advances in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 86-96, 2024.

[32] S. Ghosh et al., "On the Performance of End-to-end Cooperative NOMA-based IoT Networks with Wireless Energy Harvesting," IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 10, no. 18, pp. 16253-16270, 2023.

[33] D. Bepari et al., "Uplink Performance Analysis of Wireless Energy Harvesting-enabled NOMA-based Networks," Mobile Networks and Applications, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 856-866, 2024.

[34] T. N. Nguyen et al., "On the Dilemma of Reliability or Security in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Communications Assisted by Energy Harvesting Relaying," IEEE J. on Selected Areas in Comm., vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 52-67, 2024.

[35] X. Liu et al., "AoI-minimal Clustering, Transmission and Trajectory Co-design for UAV-assisted WPCNs," IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 1035-1051, Jan. 2025.

[36] K. Ntontin et al., "Wireless Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces," IEEE Trans. on Green Communications and Networking, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 114-129, 2023.

[37] M. Poposka et al., "Design Optimization of RF Energy Harvesting Networks for Federated Learning," Proc. 2024 Int. Balkan Conf. Commun. Networking (BalkanCom), pp. 58-62, DOI: 10.1109/BalkanCom61808.2024.10557202, 2024.

[38] B. V. Minh, N. H. K. Nhan, T.-H. T. Pham, M. Tran and S.-W. Kim, "Physical Layer Security in Wireless Sensors Networks with Friendly Jammer: Secrecy Outage Probability Analysis," Advances in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 387-398, DOI: 10.15598/aeee.v22i4.5840, 2024.

[39] M. Malik, A. Kothari and R. Pandhare, "Smart Military Logistics Based on Internet of Things and Energy Harvesting," Advances in Electrical & Electronic Engineering, vol. 23, no. 2, 2025.

[40] R. Du et al., "Comparing Backscatter Communication and Energy Harvesting in Massive IoT Networks," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 429-443, 2022.

[41] J. Zan et al., "Stochastic Geometry Based Performance Study for Wireless Powered Backscatter Communications," IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, vol. 71, no. 10, pp. 11136-11149, 2022.

[42] T. Jiang et al., "Backscatter Communication Meets Practical Battery-free Internet of Things: A Survey and Outlook," IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 2021-2051, 2023.

[43] H. Ma et al., "Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface with Energy Harvesting Assisted Cooperative Ambient Backscatter Communications," IEEE Wireless Comm. Letters, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1283-1287, 2022.

[44] X. Liu, X. Li, K. Zheng and J. Liu, "AoI Minimization of Ambient Backscatter-assisted EHCRN with Cooperative Spectrum Sensing," Computer Networks, vol. 245, p. 110389, 2024.

[45] K. Zheng et al., "A Hybrid Communication Scheme for Throughput Maximization in Backscatter-aided Energy Harvesting Cognitive Radio Networks," IEEE IoT J., vol. 10, no. 18, pp. 16194-16208, 2023.

[46] X. Liu etal., "Optimal Time Allocation for Backscatter-aided Relay Cooperative Transmission in Wireless-powered Heterogeneous CRNs," IEEE IoT J., vol. 10, no. 18, pp. 16209-16224, 2023.

[47] A. Iqbal and T.-J. Lee, "Opportunistic Backscatter Communication Protocol Underlying Energy Harvesting IoT Networks," IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 89568-89580, 2023.

[48] W.-J. Wang, K. Xu, Y. Yan and L. Chen, "Relay Selection-based Cooperative Backscatter Transmission with Energy Harvesting: Throughput Maximization," IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 1533-1537, DOI: 10.1109/LWC.2022.3179019, 2022.

[49] X. Liu et al., "Throughput Maximization of Wireless-powered Communication Network with Mobile Access Points," IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 22, no. 7, pp. 4401-4415, 2023.

[50] B. Lyu, C. You, Z. Yang and G. Gui, "The Optimal Control Policy for RF-powered Backscatter Communication Networks," IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 2804-2808, 2018.

[51] P. Ghosh, H. Yenna, S. D. Roy and S. Kundu, "Outage Analysis of an EH Relay Aided Network with Ambient-Backscattering," Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Electronics, Computing and Communication Technologies (CONECCT), pp. 1-6, DOI: 10.1109/CONECCT62155.2024.10677243, 2024.

[52] L. Shi, J. Shi, Y. Ye, G. Zheng and G. Lu, "Ambient Backscatter Communication with HARQ Assisted Hybrid Long-short Packets," IEEE Communications Letters, vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 2258-2262, 2024.

[53] J. Shi et al., "Performance Analysis for Ambient Backscatter Communications with Hybrid Long-short Packets," IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 1325-1329, 2024.

[54] X. Song et al., "Relay Assisted Cooperative Ambient Backscatter Communication with Hybrid Long-short Packets," IEEE Trans. on Vehicular Technology, vol. 73, no. 9, pp. 12890-12903, 2024.

[55] P. Ghosh, S. D. Roy and S. Kundu, "Energy Harvesting-assisted Two-user Cooperative NOMA with Ambient Backscattering," Int. J. of Communication Systems, vol. 38, no. 4, p. e6133, 2025.

[56] B. C. Nguyen et al., "Improving the Performance of Spatial Modulation Fullduplex Relaying System with Hardware Impairment Using Transmit Antenna Selection," IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 20191-20202, 2020.

[57] M. H. Tran, B. C. Nguyen and T. T. Phuong, "Outage Analysis of RF Energy Harvesting Cooperative Communication Systems over Nakagami-fading Channels with Integer and Non-Integer m," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 2785-2801, Jan. 2020.

[58] T. N. Nguyen, T. T. Phuong and M. Voznak, "Wireless Energy Harvesting Meets Receiver Diversity: A Successful Approach for Two-way Half-duplex Relay Networks over Block Rayleigh Fading Channel," Computer Networks, vol. 172, p. 107176, DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2020.107176, May 2020.

[59] H. Nguyen et al., "Security-Reliability Analysis in CR-NOMA IoT Network under I/Q Imbalance," IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 119045-119056, DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3327789, Nov. 2023.

[60] N.-T. Nguyen et al., "Performance Analysis of NOMA-based Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Relay System Using mmWave Technology," IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 10696-10707, Jan. 2023.

[61] Y. Khan et al., "Secrecy Analysis of Energy Harvesting Backscatter Communication Networks with Multiple Eavesdroppers and Different Tag Selection Schemes," IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networking, pp. 1-15, DOI: 10.1109/TGCN.2025.3563107, 2025.

[62] T. T. Duy et al., "On the Performance of the Coverage Probability of LoRa Networks with Non-linear Energy Harvesting," Proc. 2024 Int. Conf. on Advanced Technologies for Communications (ATC), pp. 722-726, DOI: 10.1109/ATC63255.2024.10908157, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2024.

[63] X. Li et al., "Security and Reliability Performance Analysis of Cooperative Multi-relay Systems with Nonlinear Energy Harvesters and Hardware Impairments," IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 102644-102661, DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2930664, 2019.

[64] T. N. Nguyen et al., "Security and Reliability Analysis of Satellite-terrestrial Multi-relay Networks with Imperfect CSI," IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 2824-2835, Aug. 2022.