RF Energy Harvesting Communications

在过去的几年里，无线通信和能源网络使大量的新应用成为可能。两者都使用相同和独特的射频介质，但到目前为止都是彼此独立设计的。这一富有远见的项目由帝国理工学院在PI Bruno Clerckx博士的监督下进行，旨在通过设计和证明一种颠覆性无线网络技术的可行性来挑战当前的设计，该技术与无线网络中的信息一起无线传输能量(简称JWIET，用于联合无线信息和能量传输)。该项目将把无线通信和能源网络视为在统一框架下设计的单一网络，并通过能量转移克服无线设备的能源限制，从而在未来容量和能源效率高的无线通信和能源网络方面创造新的范式转变。与目前的无线通信网络相反，干扰被视为一种需要收集而不是缓解的能量来源。然而，由于无线网络中的干扰会动态地影响信息速率和获取的能量，所以找到基本的性能极限和有效的干扰管理技术是具有挑战性的，到目前为止还没有被探索过。在过去的两年里，Clerckx博士成功地在两个用户和K个用户的窄带MIMO干扰信道和广播信道中解决了这个问题，假设理想的能量收集器的RF到DC的能量转换效率与输入波形无关。这个项目旨在扩展和利用过去的成果来解决JWIET在1)宽带信道中的问题，以及2)在现实的RF能量收集器存在的情况下，考虑到实际的RF电路和RF能量收集器的RF到DC的能量转换效率取决于输入波形的事实。为了以可信的方式组合这个新的无线网络解决方案，本项目的重点是：1)根据实际的射频能量采集器模型，确定一般宽带MIMO干扰和广播信道的理论速率-能量权衡；2)研究相关的传输策略；3)通过实验验证JWIET的可行性。项目及其实验将与美国国家仪器公司和沃达丰合作进行。该项目需要跨学科的研究，将在一个独特的研究小组中进行，该小组在无线通信、信号处理、数值分析和JWIET方面有着良好的记录。鉴于本课题的新颖性和原创性，研究成果将对设计未来由无线能量转移提供的无线网络具有相当大的价值，并使业界对实用JWIET系统的发展有一个新的和及时的见解，推动英国在射频能量转移和通信方面的研究形象。它的成功将改变发达市场和新兴市场的ICT/Engineering的广阔前景，这些市场在许多领域都有应用，例如楼宇自动化、医疗保健、电信、智能电网、结构监测、消费电子等。

Wireless communication and energy networks have enabled a plethora of novel applications in the last years. Both make use of the same and unique RF medium, but have been so far designed independently from each other. This visionary project conducted at Imperial College under the supervision of the PI Dr. Bruno Clerckx aims at challenging the current design by designing and proving the feasibility of a disruptive wireless network technology that wirelessly transfers energy jointly with information in wireless networks (shortly denoted as JWIET for Joint Wireless Information and Energy Transfer). The project will create a new paradigm shift in future capacity and energy efficient wireless communication and energy networks, by viewing them as a single network designed under a unified framework and by overcoming the energy constraint of wireless devices through the transfer of energy. Contrary to current wireless communication networks, interference is viewed as a source of energy that is to be harvested rather than mitigated. However, because interference in a wireless network influences dynamically the information rate and the amount of energy to harvest, finding the fundamental performance limits and effective interference management techniques is challenging and unexplored so far. In the last two years, Dr. Clerckx has successfully addressed this problem in a two-user and K-user narrowband MIMO interference channel and broadcast channels, under the assumption of an ideal energy harvester for which the RF-to-DC energy conversion efficiency is 100% irrespectively of the input waveforms.This project aims at extending and leveraging past achievements to solve the problem of JWIET in 1) wideband channels, and 2) in the presence of realistic RF energy harvesters accounting for actual RF circuitry and the fact that the RF-to-DC energy conversion efficiency of RF energy harvesters depends on the input waveforms.To put together this novel wireless network solution in a credible fashion, this project focuses on 1) identify theoretic rate-energy trade-offs for general wideband MIMO interference and broadcast channels accounting for realistic RF energy harvester models, 2) investigate the associated transmission strategies, 3) validate the feasibility of JWIET through experiment.The project and its experiment will be performed in partnership with National Instruments and Vodafone. The project demands an interdisciplinary study and it is to be conducted in a unique research group with strong track records in wireless communication, signal processing, numerical analysis, and JWIET. With the above and given the novelty and originality of the topic, the research outcomes will be of considerable value to design future wireless networks supplied by wireless energy transfer and give the industry a fresh and timely insight into the development of practical JWIET system, advancing UK's research profile of both RF energy transfer and communication in the world. Its success would change the broad ICT/Engineering landscape in developed but also emerging markets with applications in a large number of sectors, e.g. building automation, healthcare, telecommunications, smart grid, structural monitoring, consumer electronics, etc.