System-Level Analysis of SWIPT MIMO Cellular Networks

We introduce a tractable approach for studying the feasibility of multiple-antenna cellular networks, where low-energy devices decode information data and harvest power simultaneously. Tools from stochastic geometry are used to quantify the information rate versus harvested power tradeoff. This letter unveils that large-scale antenna arrays and ultra-dense deployments of base stations are both necessary to harvest, with high reliability, an amount of power of the order of a milliwatt.