Joint Uplink and Downlink Coverage Analysis of Cellular-based RF-powered IoT Network

Ambient radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting has emerged as a promising solution for powering small devices and sensors in massive Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem due to its ubiquity and cost efficiency. In this paper, we study joint uplink and downlink coverage of cellular-based ambient RF energy harvesting IoT where the cellular network is assumed to be the only source of RF energy. We consider a time division-based approach for power and information transmission where each time-slot is partitioned into three sub-slots: (i) charging sub-slot during which the cellular base stations (BSs) act as RF chargers for the IoT devices, which then use the energy harvested in this sub-slot for information transmission and/or reception during the remaining two sub-slots, (ii) downlink sub-slot during which the IoT device receives information from the associated BS, and (iii) uplink sub-slot during which the IoT device transmits information to the associated BS. For this setup, we characterize the joint coverage probability, which is the joint probability of the events that the typical device harvests sufficient energy in the given time slot and is under both uplink and downlink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) coverage with respect to its associated BS. This metric significantly generalizes the prior art on energy harvesting communications, which usually focused on downlink or uplink coverage separately. The key technical challenge is in handling the correlation between the amount of energy harvested in the charging sub-slot and the information signal quality (SINR) in the downlink and uplink sub-slots. Dominant BS-based approach is developed to derive tight approximation for this joint coverage probability. Several system design insights including comparison with regularly powered IoT network and throughput-optimal slot partitioning are also provided

Joint Energy and SINR Coverage in Spatially Clustered RF-powered IoT Network

Owing to the ubiquitous availability of radio-frequency (RF) signals, RF energy harvesting is emerging as an appealing solution for powering IoT devices. In this paper, we model and analyze an IoT network which harvests RF energy and receives information from the same wireless network. In order to enable this operation, each time slot is partitioned into charging and information reception phases. For this setup, we characterize two performance metrics: (i) energy coverage and (ii) joint signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) and energy coverage. The analysis is performed using a realistic spatial model that captures the spatial coupling between the locations of the IoT devices and the nodes of the wireless network (referred henceforth as the IoT gateways), which is often ignored in the literature. In particular, we model the locations of the IoT devices using a Poisson cluster process (PCP) and assume that some of the clusters have IoT gateways (GWs) deployed at their centers while the other GWs are deployed independently of the IoT devices. The level of coupling can be controlled by tuning the fraction of total GWs that are deployed at the cluster centers. Due to the inherent intractability of computing the distribution of shot noise process for this setup, we propose two accurate approximations, using which the aforementioned metrics are characterized. Multiple system design insights are drawn from our results. For instance, we demonstrate the existence of optimal slot partitioning that maximizes the system throughput. In addition, we explore the effect of the level of coupling between the locations of the IoT devices and the GWs on this optimal slot partitioning. Particularly, our results reveal that the optimal value of time duration for the charging phase increases as the level of coupling decreases.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Green Communications and Networkin

Coexistence of RF-powered IoT and a Primary Wireless Network with Secrecy Guard Zones

This paper studies the secrecy performance of a wireless network (primary network) overlaid with an ambient RF energy harvesting IoT network (secondary network). The nodes in the secondary network are assumed to be solely powered by ambient RF energy harvested from the transmissions of the primary network. We assume that the secondary nodes can eavesdrop on the primary transmissions due to which the primary network uses secrecy guard zones. The primary transmitter goes silent if any secondary receiver is detected within its guard zone. Using tools from stochastic geometry, we derive the probability of successful connection of the primary network as well as the probability of secure communication. Two conditions must be jointly satisfied in order to ensure successful connection: (i) the SINR at the primary receiver is above a predefined threshold, and (ii) the primary transmitter is not silent. In order to ensure secure communication, the SINR value at each of the secondary nodes should be less than a predefined threshold. Clearly, when more secondary nodes are deployed, more primary transmitters will remain silent for a given guard zone radius, thus impacting the amount of energy harvested by the secondary network. Our results concretely show the existence of an optimal deployment density for the secondary network that maximizes the density of nodes that are able to harvest sufficient amount of energy. Furthermore, we show the dependence of this optimal deployment density on the guard zone radius of the primary network. In addition, we show that the optimal guard zone radius selected by the primary network is a function of the deployment density of the secondary network. This interesting coupling between the two networks is studied using tools from game theory. Overall, this work is one of the few concrete works that symbiotically merge tools from stochastic geometry and game theory

Proportional fairness in wireless powered CSMA/CA based IoT networks

This paper considers the deployment of a hybrid wireless data/power access point in an 802.11-based wireless powered IoT network. The proportionally fair allocation of throughputs across IoT nodes is considered under the constraints of energy neutrality and CPU capability for each device. The joint optimization of wireless powering and data communication resources takes the CSMA/CA random channel access features, e.g. the backoff procedure, collisions, protocol overhead into account. Numerical results show that the optimized solution can effectively balance individual throughput across nodes, and meanwhile proportionally maximize the overall sum throughput under energy constraints.Comment: Accepted by Globecom 201