Multi-antenna Enabled Cluster-based Cooperation in Wireless Powered Communication Networks

In this paper, we consider a wireless powered communication network (WPCN) consisting of a multi-antenna hybrid access point (HAP) that transfers wireless energy to and receives sensing data from a cluster of low-power wireless devices (WDs). To enhance the throughput performance of some far-away WDs, we allow one of the WDs to act as the cluster head (CH) that helps forward the messages of the other cluster members (CMs). However, the performance of the proposed cluster-based cooperation is fundamentally limited by the high energy consumption of the CH, who needs to transmit all the WDs' messages including its own. To tackle this issue, we exploit the capability of multi-antenna energy beamforming (EB) at the HAP, which can focus more transferred power to the CH to balance its energy consumption in assisting the other WDs. Specifically, we first derive the throughput performance of each individual WD under the proposed scheme. Then, we jointly optimize the EB design, the transmit time allocation among the HAP and the WDs, and the transmit power allocation of the CH to maximize the minimum data rate achievable among all the WDs (the max-min throughput) for improved throughput fairness among the WDs. An efficient optimal algorithm is proposed to solve the joint optimization problem. Moreover, we simulate under practical network setups and show that the proposed multi-antenna enabled cluster-based cooperation can effectively improve the throughput fairness of WPCN.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication by IEEE ACCESS journal in July 201

Reusing Wireless Power Transfer for Backscatter-assisted Cooperation in WPCN

This paper studies a novel user cooperation method in a wireless powered communication network (WPCN), where a pair of closely located devices first harvest wireless energy from an energy node (EN) and then use the harvested energy to transmit information to an access point (AP). In particular, we consider the two energy-harvesting users exchanging their messages and then transmitting cooperatively to the AP using space-time block codes. Interestingly, we exploit the short distance between the two users and allow the information exchange to be achieved by energy-conserving backscatter technique. Meanwhile the considered backscatter-assisted method can effectively reuse wireless power transfer for simultaneous information exchange during the energy harvesting phase. Specifically, we maximize the common throughput through optimizing the time allocation on energy and information transmission. Simulation results show that the proposed user cooperation scheme can effectively improve the throughput fairness compared to some representative benchmark methods.Comment: The paper has been accepted for publication in MLICOM 201

Optimizing Throughput Fairness of Cluster-based Cooperation in Underlay Cognitive WPCNs

In this paper, we consider a secondary wireless powered communication network (WPCN) underlaid to a primary point-to-point communication link. The WPCN consists of a multi-antenna hybrid access point (HAP) that transfers wireless energy to a cluster of low-power wireless devices (WDs) and receives sensing data from them. To tackle the inherent severe user unfairness problem in WPCN, we consider a cluster-based cooperation where a WD acts as the cluster head that relays the information of the other WDs. Besides, we apply energy beamforming technique to balance the dissimilar energy consumptions of the WDs to further improve the fairness. However, the use of energy beamforming and cluster-based cooperation may introduce more severe interference to the primary system than the WDs transmit independently. To guarantee the performance of primary system, we consider an interference-temperature constraint to the primary system and derive the throughput performance of each WD under the peak interference-temperature constraint. To achieve maximum throughput fairness, we jointly optimize the energy beamforming design, the transmit time allocation among the HAP and the WDs, and the transmit power allocation of each WD to maximize the minimum data rate achievable among the WDs (the max-min throughput). We show that the non-convex joint optimization problem can be transformed to a convex one and then be efficiently solved using off-the-shelf convex algorithms. Moreover, we simulate under practical network setups and show that the proposed method can effectively improve the throughput fairness of the secondary WPCN, meanwhile guaranteeing the communication quality of the primary network.Comment: The paper has been submitted for potential journal publication. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1707.0320

Multiuser Scheduling for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer Systems

In this thesis, we study the downlink multiuser scheduling and power allocation problem for systems with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). In the first part of the thesis, we focus on multiuser scheduling. We design optimal scheduling algorithms that maximize the long-term average system throughput under different fairness requirements, such as proportional fairness and equal throughput fairness. In particular, the algorithm designs are formulated as non-convex optimization problems which take into account the minimum required average sum harvested energy in the system. The problems are solved by using convex optimization techniques and the proposed optimization framework reveals the tradeoff between the long-term average system throughput and the sum harvested energy in multiuser systems with fairness constraints. Simulation results demonstrate that substantial performance gains can be achieved by the proposed optimization framework compared to existing suboptimal scheduling algorithms from the literature. In the second part of the thesis, we investigate the joint user scheduling and power allocation algorithm design for SWIPT systems. The algorithm design is formulated as a non-convex optimization problem which maximizes the achievable rate subject to a minimum required average power transfer. Subsequently, the non-convex optimization problem is reformulated by big-M method which can be solved optimally. Furthermore, we show that joint power allocation and user scheduling is an efficient way to enlarge the feasible trade-off region for improving the system performance in terms of achievable data rate and harvested energy.Comment: Master Thesis, Institute for Digital Communications, Friedrich-Alexander-Universit\"at Erlangen-N\"urnberg, Germany http://www.idc.lnt.de/en

Towards Optimal Resource Allocation in Wireless Powered Communication Networks with Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access

The optimal allocation of time and energy resources is characterized in a Wireless Powered Communication Network (WPCN) with non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA). We consider two different formulations; in the first one (max-sum), the sum-throughput of all users is maximized. In the second one (max-min), and targeting fairness among users, we consider maximizing the min-throughput of all users. Under the above two formulations, two NOMA decoding schemes are studied, namely, low complexity decoding (LCD) and successive interference cancellation decoding (SICD). Due to the non-convexity of three of the studied optimization problems, we consider an approximation approach, in which the non-convex optimization problem is approximated by a convex optimization problem, which satisfies all the constraints of the original problem. The approximated convex optimization problem can then be solved iteratively. The results show a trade-off between maximizing the sum throughout and achieving fairness through maximizing the minimum throughput

Resource Allocation and Fairness in Wireless Powered Cooperative Cognitive Radio Networks

We integrate a wireless powered communication network with a cooperative cognitive radio network, where multiple secondary users (SUs) powered wirelessly by a hybrid access point (HAP) help a primary user relay the data. As a reward for the cooperation, the secondary network gains the spectrum access where SUs transmit to HAP using time division multiple access. To maximize the sum-throughput of SUs, we present a secondary sum-throughput optimal resource allocation (STORA) scheme. Under the constraint of meeting target primary rate, the STORA scheme chooses the optimal set of relaying SUs and jointly performs the time and energy allocation for SUs. Specifically, by exploiting the structure of the optimal solution, we find the order in which SUs are prioritized to relay primary data. Since the STORA scheme focuses on the sum-throughput, it becomes inconsiderate towards individual SU throughput, resulting in low fairness. To enhance fairness, we investigate three resource allocation schemes, which are (i) equal time allocation, (ii) minimum throughput maximization, and (iii) proportional time allocation. Simulation results reveal the trade-off between sum-throughput and fairness. The minimum throughput maximization scheme is the fairest one as each SU gets the same throughput, but yields the least SU sum-throughput.Comment: Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Communication

Optimization of Energy-Constrained Wireless Powered Communication Networks with Heterogeneous Nodes

In this paper, we study wireless networks where nodes have two energy sources, namely a battery and radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting circuitry. We formulate two optimization problems with different objective functions, namely maximizing the sum throughput and maximizing the minimum throughput, for enhanced fairness. Furthermore, we show the generality of the proposed system model through characterizing the conditions under which the two formulated optimization problems can be reduced to the corresponding problems of different known wireless networks, namely, conventional wireless networks (battery-powered) and wireless powered communications networks (WPCNs) with only RF energy harvesting nodes. In addition, we introduce WPCNs with two types of nodes, with and without RF energy harvesting capability, in which the nodes without RF energy harvesting are utilized to enhance the sum throughput, even beyond WPCNs with all energy harvesting nodes. We establish the convexity of all formulated problems which opens room for efficient solution using standard techniques. Our numerical results show that the two types of wireless networks, namely WPCNs with only RF energy harvesting nodes and conventional wireless networks, are considered, respectively, as lower and upper bounds on the performance of the generalized problem setting in terms of the maximum sum throughput and the maxmin throughput. Moreover, the results reveal new insights and throughput-fairness trade-offs unique to our new problem setting.Comment: Accepted for publication in Wireless Networks, 201

Resource Allocation in SWIPT Networks under a Non-Linear Energy Harvesting Model: Power Efficiency, User Fairness, and Channel Non-Reciprocity

This paper considers a multi-user simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system with a non-linear energy harvesting model, in which a multi-antenna base station (BS) estimates the downlink channel state information (CSI) via uplink pilots. Each single-antenna user is equipped with a power splitter. Three crucial issues on resource management for this system include: (i) power-efficient improvement, (ii) user-fairness guarantee, and (iii) non-ideal channel reciprocity effect mitigation. Potentially, a resource allocation scheme to address jointly such issues can be devised by using the framework of multi-objective optimization. However, the resulting problem might be complex to solve since the three issues hold different characteristics. Therefore, we propose a novel method to design the resource allocation scheme. In particular, the principle of our method relies on structuralizing mathematically the issues into a cross-layer multi-level optimization problem. On this basis, we then devise solving algorithms and closed-form solutions. Moreover, to instantly adapt the CSI changes in practice while reducing computational burdens, we propose a closed-form suboptimal solution to tackle the problem. Finally, we provide numerical results to show the achievable performance gains using the optimal and suboptimal solutions, and then validate the proposed resource allocation scheme.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog

On Optimal Policies in Full-Duplex Wireless Powered Communication Networks

The optimal resource allocation scheme in a full-duplex Wireless Powered Communication Network (WPCN) composed of one Access Point (AP) and two wireless devices is analyzed and derived. AP operates in a full-duplex mode and is able to broadcast wireless energy signals in downlink and receive information data in uplink simultaneously. On the other hand, each wireless device is assumed to be equipped with Radio-Frequency (RF) energy harvesting circuitry which gathers the energy sent by AP and stores it in a finite capacity battery. The harvested energy is then used for performing uplink data transmission tasks. In the literature, the main focus so far has been on slot-oriented optimization. In this context, all the harvested RF energy in a given slot is also consumed in the same slot. However, this approach leads to sub-optimal solutions because it does not take into account the Channel State Information (CSI) variations over future slots. Differently from most of the prior works, in this paper we focus on the long-term weighted throughput maximization problem. This approach significantly increases the complexity of the optimization problem since it requires to consider both CSI variations over future slots and the evolution of the batteries when deciding the optimal resource allocation. We formulate the problem using the Markov Decision Process (MDP) theory and show how to solve it. Our numerical results emphasize the superiority of our proposed full-duplex WPCN compared to the half-duplex WPCN and reveal interesting insights about the effects of perfect as well as imperfect self-interference cancellation techniques on the network performance.Comment: Proc. IEEE Symp. Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad Hoc and Wireless Networks (WiOpt), May 201

Energy Efficient Resource Allocation for Time-Varying OFDMA Relay Systems with Hybrid Energy Supplies

This paper investigates the energy efficient resource allocation for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) relay systems, where the system is supplied by the conventional utility grid and a renewable energy generator equipped with a storage device. The optimal usage of radio resource depends on the characteristics of the renewable energy generation and the mobile traffic, which exhibit both temporal and spatial diversities. Lyapunov optimization method is used to decompose the problem into the joint flow control, radio resource allocation and energy management without knowing a priori knowledge of system statistics. It is proven that the proposed algorithm can result in close-to-optimal performance with capacity limited data buffer and storage device. Simulation results show that the flexible tradeoff between the system utility and the conventional energy consumption can be achieved. Compared with other schemes, the proposed algorithm demonstrates better performance.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, IEEE System Journa