9 research outputs found
On the Capacity of SWIPT Systems with a Nonlinear Energy Harvesting Circuit
In this paper, we study information-theoretic limits for simultaneous
wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) systems employing a practical
nonlinear radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting (EH) receiver. In particular,
we consider a three-node system with one transmitter that broadcasts a common
signal to separated information decoding (ID) and EH receivers. Owing to the
nonlinearity of the EH receiver circuit, the efficiency of wireless power
transfer depends significantly on the waveform of the transmitted signal. In
this paper, we aim to answer the following fundamental question: What is the
optimal input distribution of the transmit waveform that maximizes the rate of
the ID receiver for a given required harvested power at the EH receiver? In
particular, we study the capacity of a SWIPT system impaired by additive white
Gaussian noise (AWGN) under average-power (AP) and peak-power (PP) constraints
at the transmitter and an EH constraint at the EH receiver. Using Hermite
polynomial bases, we prove that the optimal capacity-achieving input
distribution that maximizes the rate-energy region is unique and discrete with
a finite number of mass points. Furthermore, we show that the optimal input
distribution for the same problem without PP constraint is discrete whenever
the EH constraint is active and continuous zero-mean Gaussian, otherwise. Our
numerical results show that the rate-energy region is enlarged for a larger PP
constraint and that the rate loss of the considered SWIPT system compared to
the AWGN channel without EH receiver is reduced by increasing the AP budget.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted for possible conference publicatio
Fundamentals of Wireless Information and Power Transfer: From RF Energy Harvester Models to Signal and System Designs
Radio waves carry both energy and information simultaneously. Nevertheless,
Radio-Frequency (RF) transmission of these quantities have traditionally been
treated separately. Currently, we are 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 radiations as well as the
network infrastructure for the dual purpose of communicating and energizing. In
this paper, we review and discuss recent progress on 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
Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT),Wirelessly Powered
Communication Network (WPCN), 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
architecture, 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.Comment: guest editor-authored tutorial paper submitted to IEEE JSAC special
issue on wireless transmission of information and powe