Optimization for Wireless-Powered IoT Networks Enabled by an Energy-Limited UAV Under Practical Energy Consumption Model

This letter investigates an energy-limited unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled wireless-powered Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks. Herein, we propose an energy-constrained/limited fly-and-hover energy harvest (EFH-EH) scheme. The UAV charges the IoT sensors during its flying time, while the hovering time of the UAV above each sensor is divided into two parts, one for energy transfer and the other for information transmission. In particular, a maximum available energy constraint is imposed on the UAV to capture UAV's real-world energy-limited feature. In addition, a practical UAV energy consumption model is adopted, which differentiates the hovering, flying, and charging energy consumption of the UAV. Under these practical constraints, we study the optimal time allocation and hovering time ratio to maximize the sum throughput. Numerical results show that the proposed EFH-EH scheme outperforms existing schemes, and the maximum available energy constraint limits the system performance when the transmit power is high.

Automated summary

This study proposes an energy-limited UAV-enabled wireless-powered IoT network scheme that collects energy through flying and hovering for charging, investigates the optimal time allocation and hovering time ratio to maximize total throughput.