AmBC-Aided Interference Sensing and Estimation

As more and more devices connect to the Internet of Things (IoT), the wireless spectrum is becoming increasingly crowded. Interference is considered as a key impediment to improving IoT performance. Moreover, the broadcast nature of wireless communication makes IoT devices more susceptible to malicious threats, such as jamming attacks. Although numerous interference management (IM) methods have been developed, there is still a lack of study on effective sensing and estimation of interference, particularly in cases where no cooperation exists between the interferer and the interfered communication pair. To address the above issue, we propose an Ambient Backscatter Communication-aided Interference Sensing and Estimation (AmBC-ISE) method in this paper. AmBC-ISE consists of two stages. In the AmBC-aided Interference Sensing (AmBC-IS) stage, the desired/legitimate Tx adjusts the reflection parameter of backscatter device (BD) to minimize the desired signal perceived by the desired/legitimate receiver (Rx) to zero. This enables the determination of the presence of an interferer. Next, in the AmBC-aided Interference Estimation (AmBC-IE) stage, the legitimate Tx further adjusts the reflection parameter of the BD to create a set of equations based on the received mixed signal at the legitimate Rx. Then, by solving this equation set, the characteristics of the interference that the legitimate Rx experiences can be estimated. With the assistance of AmBC-ISE, IM can be performed accurately and efficiently, ensuring improved transmission performance for the legitimate communication. Our simulation results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed AmBC-ISE.