Wireless information and power transfer: Rate-energy tradeoff for nonlinear energy harvesting

In this paper, we study rate-energy (R-E) tradeoffs for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). In the existing literature, by invoking a simplistic and ideal assumption of linear energy harvesting, the R-E tradeoff performance was analyzed only for the four SWIPT schemes: The dynamic power splitting, type-I on-off power splitting (OPS), static power splitting, and time switching. Different from such works, in this work, we consider the realistic and practical scenario of nonlinear energy harvesting. Furthermore, to characterize the R-E tradeoff with nonlinear energy harvesting, we propose a new SWIPT scheme, the generalized OPS (GOPS). As a special case of the proposed GOPS, we also investigate an additional SWIPT scheme, the type-II OPS. Through the analysis based on the realistic nonlinear models reported in the literature, we derive new theoretical results on the R-E tradeoff, which are in sharp contrast to those in the existing literature obtained with linear energy harvesting. Furthermore, we provide various useful insights into the SWIPT system with nonlinear energy harvesting.