Trajectory Optimization and Resource Allocation for Throughput Maximization of IRS-Aided UAV WPCN

This paper aims to maximize the sum throughput of an Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS)-assisted wireless powered communication network (WPCN), where the IRS located between several sensors and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system first performs wireless power transfer to the sensors and then assists forwarding the information of each sensor to the UAV based on TDMA protocol. To address each problem’s non-convexity, we propose an algorithm to obtain the nearoptimal solution. The method of block coordinate descent is used to improve the throughput through joint optimization of allocation of time slot, transmit power of ground nodes, phase shifts of the IRS, and trajectory of the UAV. Simulations show the considerable gain achieved by the joint optimization scheme.