Joint transfer of energy and information in a two-hop relay channel

Abstract

We study the problem of joint information and energy transfer in a two-hop channel with a Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting relay. We consider a finite battery size at the relay and deterministic energy loss in transmitting energy. In other words, to be able to send an energy-contained symbol, the relay must receive multiple energy-contained symbols. Thus, we face a kind of channel with memory. We model the energy saved in battery as channel state with the challenge that the receiver does not know the channel state. First, we consider the problem without any channel noise and derive an achievable rate. Next, we extend the results to the case with an independent and identically distributed noise in the second hop (the relay-receiver link).