OFDM based bidirectional multi-relay SWIPT strategy for 6G IoT networks

6G IoT networks aim for providing significantly higher data rates and extremely lower latency. However, due to the increasingly scarce spectrum bands and ever-growing massive number IoT devices (IoDs) deployed, 6G IoT networks face two critical challenges, i.e., energy limitation and severe signal attenuation. Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) and cooperative relaying provide effective ways to address these two challenges. In this paper, we investigate the energy self-sustainability (ESS) of 6G IoT network and propose an OFDM based bidirectional multi-relay SWIPT strategy for 6G IoT networks. In the proposed strategy, the transmission process is equally divided into two phases. Specifically, in phase1 two source nodes transmit their signals to relay nodes which will then use different subcarrier sets to decode information and harvest energy, respectively. In phase2 relay nodes forward signals to corresponding destination nodes with the harvested energy. We maximize the weighted sum transmission rate by optimizing subcarriers and power allocation. Our proposed strategy achieves larger weighted sum transmission rate comparing with the benchmark scheme.