Study on IoT networks with the combined use of wireless power transmission and solar energy harvesting.

The efficiency of Internet of Things (IoT) mobile networks is limited by the battery's capacity in IoT devices. In addition to their replacement/recharge problem, batteries delimit devices' processing and data forwarding capabilities, hence degrading the performance of IoT networks. Recent advances in Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) technology provide an attractive solution, namely Wireless Powered Communication (WPC), in which wireless devices are charged through wireless power transmitters. However, the design and prospect of WPC applications are challenged by the poor efficiency of long-distance WPT. On the other hand, solar energy harvesting is a conventional and natural method for conveying energy wirelessly to devices. This article reviews WPT technology as well as solar energy harvesting and investigates their challenges in IoT networks. It is shown that smart integration of these two energy supply methods to power IoT networks wirelessly leads to more efficient WPCs called green WPC. Three frameworks for green WPC have been investigated in this article. These methods are simulated and analyzed in a network and energy model in separate scenarios. Green WPC is a potential solution to create networks with a longer lifetime and higher reliability and flexibility than conventional battery-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]