Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Harvesting: Current Status and Future Prospects

TLDR

Mobile devices rely on rechargeable batteries, but limited capacity and frequent recharging drive research into wireless power transfer and energy harvesting as promising alternatives. This article reviews recent advances in wireless power supply and highlights future trends through several promising applications. The authors propose an energy‑scheduling scheme for an EH‑powered D2D relay network, formulating an optimization problem and solving it with a modified two‑stage directional water‑filling algorithm.

Abstract

The rechargeable battery is the conventional power source for mobile devices. However, limited battery capacity and frequent recharging requires further research to find new ways to deliver power without the hassle of connecting cables. Novel wireless power supply methods, such as energy harvesting and wireless power transfer, are currently receiving considerable attention. In this article, an overview of recent advances in wireless power supply is provided, and several promising applications are presented to show the future trends. In addition, to efficiently schedule the harvested energy, an energy scheduling scheme in the EH-powered D2D relay network is proposed as a case study. To be specific, we first formulate an optimization problem for energy scheduling, and then propose a modified two stage directional water filling algorithm to resolve it.