System-level analysis of receiver diversity in SWIPT-enabled cellular networks

In this paper, we study the feasibility of receiver diversity for application to downlink cellularnetworks, where low-energy devices are equipped with information decoding and energy harvestingreceivers for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer. We compare several options that arebased on selection combining and maximum ratio combining, which provide different implementationcomplexities. By capitalizing on the Frechet inequality, we shed light on the advantages and limitationsof each scheme as a function of the transmission rate and harvested power that need to be fulfilled atthe low-energy devices. Our analysis shows that no scheme outperforms the others for every systemsetup. It suggests, on the other hand, that the low-energy devices need to operate in an adaptive fashion,by choosing the receiver diversity scheme as a function of the imposed requirements. With the aid ofstochastic geometry, we introduce mathematical frameworks for system-level analysis. We show thatthey constitute an important tool for system-level optimization and, in particular, for identifying thediversity scheme that optimizes wireless information and power transmission as a function of a sensibleset of parameters. Monte Carlo simulations are used to validate our findings and to illustrate the trade-offthat emerge in cellular networks with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer