Energy harvesting wireless communications

A wireless communication system consisting of energy harvesting nodes holds the promise of self-sustainability and perpetual operation. The idea behind energy harvesting is that the wireless communication devices can collect energy from their environment. This energy is used to recharge their batteries and consequently, be able to transmit data. The energy can be harvested from multiple sources, for example, solar, chemical , thermal or vibrational.

The main challenge in energy harvesting wireless communications is the variable availability of energy. In general, the exact amount of energy that can be collected and the precise time when it arrives is hard to predict. Therefore, new transmission strategies need to be designed.

According to the available knowledge regarding the energy harvesting process, the transmission strategies can be classified into offline and online strategies. In the offline case, complete knowledge of the energy harvesting process is assumed. This includes the time when the energy arrives and the amount of energy that can be collected. On the contrary, in the online case, a stochastic model for the EH process is assumed.

In this project, the goal is to develop offline and online transmission strategies for energy harvesting wireless communications considering different transmission scenarios.