Fundamentals of wireless information and power transfer: From RF energy harvester models to signal and system designs
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Radio waves carry both energy and information simultaneously. Nevertheless, radio-frequency (RF) transmissions of these quantities have traditionally been treated separately. Currently, the community is experiencing a paradigm shift in wireless network design, namely, unifying wireless transmission of information and power so as to make the best use of the RF spectrum and radiation as well as the network infrastructure for the dual purpose of communicating and energizing. In this paper, we review and discuss recent progress in laying the foundations of the envisioned dual purpose networks by establishing a signal theory and design for wireless information and power transmission (WIPT) and identifying the fundamental tradeoff between conveying information and power wirelessly. We start with an overview of WIPT challenges and technologies, namely, simultaneous WIPT (SWIPT), wirelessly powered communication networks (WPCNs), and wirelessly powered backscatter communication (WPBC). We then characterize energy harvesters and show how WIPT signal and system designs crucially revolve around the underlying energy harvester model. To that end, we highlight three different energy harvester models, namely, one linear model and two nonlinear models, and show how WIPT designs differ for each of them in single-user and multi-user deployments. Topics discussed include rate-energy region characterization, transmitter and receiver architectures, waveform design, modulation, beamforming and input distribution optimizations, resource allocation, and RF spectrum use. We discuss and check the validity of the different energy harvester models and the resulting signal theory and design based on circuit simulations, prototyping, and experimentation. We also point out numerous directions that are promising for future research.
Date Issued
2019-01-01
Date Acceptance
2018-09-01
Citation
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 2019, 37 (1), pp.4-33
ISSN
0733-8716
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
4
End Page
33
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
Volume
37
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000453532200002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Telecommunications
Engineering
Wireless information and power transfer
wireless power transfer
wireless powered communications
wireless energy harvesting communications
rate-energy region
linear and nonlinear energy harvester modeling
signal and system design
prototyping
experimentation
WAVE-FORM DESIGN
COMMUNICATION-NETWORKS
BACKSCATTER COMMUNICATION
EFFICIENCY OPTIMIZATION
INTERFERENCE CHANNELS
RESOURCE-ALLOCATION
MULTIPLE-ACCESS
SWIPT
CAPACITY
SECURE
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-09-28