RF Energy Harvesting Wireless Networks: Challenges And Opportunities

Amar Esse Ahmed (International Islamic University Malaysia)
Khaizuran Abdullah (Associate Professor at International Islamic university Malaysia.)
Mohamed Hadi Habaebi (Professor at International Islamic university Malaysia.)
Huda Adibah Ramli (Associate Professor at International Islamic university Malaysia.)
Ani Liza Asnawi (Assistant Professor at International Islamic university Malaysia.)

Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Informatics (IJEEI)
Vol 9, No 1: March 2021

Energy harvesting wireless networks is one of the most researched topics in this decade, both in industry and academia, as it can offer self-sustaining sensor networks. With RF energy harvesting (RF-EH) embedded, the sensors can operate for extended periods by harvesting energy from the environment or by receiving it as an Energy signal from a hybrid base station (HBS). Thus, providing sustainable solutions for managing massive numbers of sensor nodes. However, the biggest hurdle of RF energy is the low energy density due to spreading loss. This paper investigates the RF-EH node hardware and design essentials, performance matrices of RF-EH. Power management in energy harvesting nodes is discussed. Furthermore, an information criticality algorithm is proposed for critical and hazardous use cases. Finally, some of the RF-EH applications and the opportunities of 5G technologies for the RF-EH are introduced.