Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer for STAR-RIS-Assisted AAV Networks

This article explores the benefits of deploying simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligence surfaces (STAR-RIS) in autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) networks with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer. In the proposed system, the AAV utilizes STAR-RIS to radiate energy-carrying information signals (ECISs) to multiple outdoor energy receivers and multiple indoor information receivers without flying over indoor no-fly zone. Based on the AAV propulsion power formula, we successively introduce fly-hover-broadcast (FHB) and path discretization (PD) protocols to minimize the total AAV energy consumption by jointly using the extended penalty function and optimization algorithm based on the expected value of channel status information, where the AAV flight constraints, no-fly constraint, minimized energy or information threshold constraints, and STAR-RIS phase-shift constraints are met. The FHB protocol, which requires the AAV to radiate the ECISs to the users at only a few hovering positions, provides a lower bound performance of AAV energy consumption, while the PD protocol is used to discuss the general situation of the ECISs during AAV flight. Simulation results demonstrate that the utilization of the STAR-RIS in AAV networks outperforms the traditional RIS in improving energy efficiency and extending AAV flight time.