- Qualcomm and Intel are among the founding members of the Ambient IoT Alliance
- The organization will promote a multi-standard ecosystem that includes Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular IoT
- ABI expects 1 billion ambient IoT devices will ship in 2030
Qualcomm and Intel are not getting together the way some might have thought – those reports about a tie-up fizzled last year – but they do agree on one thing: Ambient IoT is where it's at.
Both companies are part of the newly launched Ambient IoT Alliance, along with Atmosic, Infineon Technologies, PepsiCo, VusionGroup and Wiliot.
For those looking for a quick refresher on what exactly “ambient IoT” means, here’s the short version: Ambient IoT basically refers to devices that don’t have batteries. Think sensors for tracking location, humidity and temperature. The ambient IoT concept also refers to devices that use energy harvested from radio waves, heat, motion or other sources.
ABI Research expects more than 1 billion ambient IoT devices to be shipped in 2030, with more than 90% connected through short range wireless technologies.
Bluetooth is the big winner here, according to ABI Research analyst Jonathan Budd, who said the ambient IoT market will be dominated by Bluetooth Low Energy (LE).
“Bluetooth is one of the most commoditized modems available in the wireless connectivity market, with Bluetooth LE offering lower data rates for ultra-low-power devices that require short bursts of data,” he told Fierce.
But the Ambient IoT Alliance is broader than that, corralling Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and cellular IoT into a single pen. The alliance’s mission is to promote an open and multi-standard ecosystem for use in supply chains, retail channels, healthcare delivery services and more.
“It’s definitely about bringing things together. None of this works as an island. These standards – Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular – they’re massive, especially the cellular standards,” said Steve Statler, spokesman for the Ambient IoT Alliance. “All of this needs to integrate with all the other standards.”
And it’s much bigger than getting the Tupperware to talk to the smart speaker, he said. When medicine, eyeglasses, food containers and more of these very personal devices are connected, “the impact is really profound,” he said. “It’s about dealing with all the privacy issues and data ownership issues.”
That’s why they’re bringing in food safety experts, for example, to talk about the Food Safety Modernization Act, which calls for specific actions throughout the food distribution chain to prevent contamination and foodborne diseases. The act requires traceability records for certain foods by January 20, 2026.
“We think ambient IoT is the best way of complying with the mandate,” he said. “Ambient IoT can basically automate something as simple as record keeping in the food chain.”
According to the alliance, the simultaneous rise of ambient IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) will give businesses and consumers “unprecedented understanding” of the world around them. The alliance says it’s focused on the next generation of ambient IoT standards for battery-free, low-cost technologies to connect products and assets, which can also improve AI service in the cloud.
Room for everyone
While Bluetooth is currently the de facto technology choice for building energy harvesting applications, the cellular industry’s 3GPP and Wi-Fi’s IEEE are actively working with developers of IoT systems to better define, support and grow ambient IoT via cellular and Wi-Fi, Budd said.
As for fragmentation in the IoT industry – a longstanding challenge that protocols like Thread are designed to address – Budd said IoT is not about the “last man standing.” It’s about securing a guaranteed business outcome from the toolbox of available technologies, which include an “all of the above” model.
“Ambient IoT is best suited to low-complexity, power-sipping devices in controlled environments, giving the lower power protocols of Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee Green Power and EnOcean an advantage in minimizing power consumption,” he concluded. “Wide area connections are expected to be lower in number but may be more widely used in mission-critical IoT applications involving high-value assets.”