Feasibility of Simultaneous Information and Energy Transfer in LTE-A Small Cell Networks

TL;DR

This paper investigates the practicality of simultaneous information and energy transfer in LTE-A small cell networks, showing it is feasible to charge secondary batteries but not primary ones directly from RF energy.

Contribution

It introduces a unified receiver model for SIET in LTE-A small cells and analyzes its feasibility using a Poisson point process model.

Findings

Secondary batteries can be charged with harvested energy

Direct primary battery charging remains infeasible

Feasibility improves with enhanced RF energy harvesting technology

Abstract

Simultaneous information and energy transfer is attracting much attention as an effective method to provide green energy supply for mobiles. However the very low power level of the harvested energy from RF spectrum limits the application of such technique. Thanks to the improvement of sensitivity and efficiency of RF energy harvesting circuit as well as the dense deployment of small cells base stations, the SIET becomes more practical. In this paper, we propose a unified receiver model for SIET in LTE-A small cell base staion networks, formulate the feasibility problem with Poisson point process model and analysis the feasibility for a special and practical senario. The results shows that it is feasible for mobiles to charge the secondary battery wih harvested energy from BSs, but it is still infeasible to directly charge the primary battery or operate without any battery at all.