Markov-Chain Based Performance Analysis and Evaluation of Harvest-Then-Access Scheduling for Wireless Powered Communication Network

Wireless powered communication network (WPCN) is a novel structure of the network that integrates wireless information communication (WIT) and wireless energy transfer(WET). The scheduling design is a key factor for performance improvement for WPCN. As an effective scheduling design approach, “Harvest-then-Access” has been proposed. This approach requires optimizing control parameters in the scheduling. Therefore, some approaches, such as machine learning or simulation, have been used. This paper proposes a Markov-chain model-based analytical model of Harvest-then-Access scheduling for WPCN. We propose a new Markov-chain model, which includes the essential operation in WPCN with Harvest-then-Access. From the analytical model, we derive the optimal time interval of WET in the network with Harvest-then-Access, which simultaneously provides throughput improvement and fairness among devices. The validity of the proposed analytical model is demonstrated by comparing the analytical and simulation result. Then, we evaluate the performance of Harvest-then-Access scheduling through comparison to the other scheduling.