Throughput Optimization of Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted User Cooperation in WPCNs

TL;DR

This paper explores how intelligent reflecting surfaces can be used to optimize throughput in wireless powered communication networks by jointly adjusting transmission parameters and passive array coefficients, enhancing cooperative transmission performance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel IRS-assisted user cooperation scheme in WPCNs with joint optimization of time, power, and reflecting coefficients for throughput maximization.

Findings

Proposed scheme outperforms benchmark methods in throughput.

Joint optimization significantly improves energy and spectral efficiency.

IRS effectively enhances cooperative communication in WPCNs.

Abstract

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) can effectively enhance the energy and spectral efficiency of wireless communication system through the use of a large number of lowcost passive reflecting elements. In this paper, we investigate throughput optimization of IRS-assisted user cooperation in a wireless powered communication network (WPCN), where the two WDs harvest wireless energy and transmit information to a common hybrid access point (HAP). In particular, the two WDs first exchange their independent information with each other and then form a virtual antenna array to transmit jointly to the HAP. We aim to maximize the common (minimum) throughput performance by jointly optimizing the transmit time and power allocations of the two WDs on wireless energy and information transmissions and the passive array coefficients on reflecting the wireless energy and information signals. By comparing with some existing benchmark schemes, our results show that the proposed IRS-assisted user cooperation method can effectively improve the throughput performance of cooperative transmission in WPCNs.