Exploiting peer-to-peer wireless energy sharing for mobile charging relief

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the utilization of peer-to-peer wireless energy sharing to relieve the users from the burden of cord-based charging. The devices of users can make use of energy available from other users’ devices based on their meeting patterns so that the battery level of their devices could be maintained within an acceptable level without the need of charging it through a cable frequently. We first use dynamic programming-based optimization to find out the minimum number of cord-based charging sessions to obtain the highest possible mobile charging relief through collaborative charge sharing among pairs of nearby user devices. Then, we map our problem to roommate matching problem and find out the best matching among users that will achieve the highest network-wide relief while satisfying all users with their assigned partners. With an extensive empirical analysis based on real device charging patterns and meeting patterns between mobile users, we evaluate the charging relief offered to users in various scenarios. The results show that users can get up to 13–17% relief from their charging burden using cooperative energy exchanges without changing their existing usage habits.