Wireless Powered Communication Networks Assisted by Backscatter Communication

This paper proposes a backscatter-assisted wireless powered communication network that includes a hybrid access point and multiple users. In conventional wireless powered communication networks with only harvest-then-transmit (HTT) mode, urgent data transmission is not possible since users need to first harvest sufficient energy before transmitting information. Backscatter communication depends on instantaneous excitation energy such that the dedicated time for harvesting energy first is not required. To improve the system performance, both HTT and backscatter modes are employed at the users in the proposed model. An optimization problem is formulated to maximize the sum-throughput by finding the optimal transmission policy, including the optimal users' working mode permutation and time allocation. Simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model.