Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) is a promisingsolution to increase the lifetime of wireless nodes and hence alleviate theenergy bottleneck of energy constrained wireless networks. As an alternative toconventional energy harvesting techniques, SWIPT relies on the use of radiofrequency signals, and is expected to bring some fundamental changes to thedesign of wireless communication networks. This article focuses on theapplication of advanced smart antenna technologies, including multiple-inputmultiple-output and relaying techniques, to SWIPT. These smart antennatechnologies have the potential to significantly improve the energy efficiencyand also the spectral efficiency of SWIPT. Different network topologies withsingle and multiple users are investigated, along with some promising solutionsto achieve a favorable trade-off between system performance and complexity. Adetailed discussion of future research challenges for the design of SWIPTsystems is also provided.
展开▼
