In sum – what to know
Massive growth – ambient IoT device shipments will reach 1.1 billion by 2030, powered by various energy harvesting methods like light, RF signals, and mechanical vibrations.
Diverse harvesting – 57% of ambient IoT devices will use PV cells, while others will leverage RF, vibration, or heat energy, enabling battery-free and hybrid models.
Ecosystem alliances – as well as a rush of activity, the Ambient IoT Alliance, formed by the likes of Qualcomm and Intel, is to scale energy harvesting for IoT devices.
Shipments of ambient IoT devices, harvesting energy from the surrounding environment, will reach 1.1 billion units in 2030, reckons analyst house ABI Research. The firm has a new research study that predicts that around 57 percent of ambient IoT devices in the period (about 576 million) will utilize photovoltaic (PV) cells to harvest light energy; another 36 percent will capture and convert energy from ambient radio frequency (RF) signals. Four percent and three percent of ambient IoT devices will use piezoelectric and thermoelectric energy harvesting, respectively, to convert energy from mechanical stresses and vibrations and from heat (temperature differences).
