Scavenging Microwave Wireless Power:A Unified Model,Rectenna Design Automation,and Cutting-Edge Techniques

While sufficient review articles exist on inductive short-range wireless power transfer(WPT),long-haul microwave WPT(MWPT)for solar power satellites,and ambient microwave wireless energy harvesting(MWEH)in urban areas,few studies focus on the fundamental modeling and related design automation of receiver systems.This article reviews the development of MWPT and MWEH receivers,with a focus on rectenna design automation.A novel rectifier model capable of accurately modeling the rectification process under both high and low input power is presented.The model reveals the theoretical boundary of radio frequency-to-direct current(dc)power conversion efficiency and,most importantly,enables an automated system design.The automated rectenna design flow is sequential,with the minimal engagement of iterative optimization.It covers the design automation of every module(i.e.,rectifiers,matching circuits,antennae,and dc–dc converters).Scaling-up of the technique to large rectenna arrays is also possible,where the challenges in array partitioning and power combining are briefly discussed.In addition,several cutting-edge rectenna techniques for MWPT and MWEH are reviewed,including the dynamic range extension technique,the harmonics-based retro-directive technique,and the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer technique,which can be good complements to the presented automated design methodology.

NOMA-Based UAV-Aided Networks for Emergency Communications

High spectrum efficiency(SE)requirement and massive connections are the main challenges for the fifth generation(5G)and beyond 5G(B5G)wireless networks,especially for the case when Internet of Things(IoT)devices are located in a disaster area.Non-orthogonal multiple access(NOMA)-based unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-aided network is emerging as a promising technique to overcome the above challenges.In this paper,an emergency communications framework of NOMA-based UAV-aided networks is established,where the disasters scenarios can be divided into three broad categories that have named emergency areas,wide areas and dense areas.First,a UAV-enabled uplink NOMA system is established to gather information from IoT devices in emergency areas.Then,a joint UAV deployment and resource allocation scheme for a multi-UAV enabled NOMA system is developed to extend the UAV coverage for IoT devices in wide areas.Furthermore,a UAV equipped with an antenna array has been considered to provide wireless service for multiple devices that are densely distributed in disaster areas.Simulation results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the above three schemes.Finally,potential research directions and challenges are also highlighted and discussed.