Future Networks With Wireless Power Transfer and Energy Harvesting [Scanning the Issue]

Abstract

This month’s special issue provides an overview of the state-of-the-art technology and theory for future networks with wireless power transfer and energy harvesting. Wireless communication using radio frequency (RF) radiation has been around for over 100 years and has shaped our society significantly over the past 40 years. However, wireless is not just about communications. For very short ranges, wireless power supply by inductive power transfer has become a reality through several commercial products and standards (Wireless Power Consortium, Power Matters Alliance, Alliance for Wireless Power, and Rezence). Far-field wireless power transfer (WPT) and wireless energy harvesting (WEH) via RF (as in wireless communications) on the other hand could be used for a longer range. Although it has long been seen as a potential for powering low-power devices, it is only recently that wireless (via RF) power has been recognized as a promising technology to cope with the explosion of low-power devices in future networks. Driven by the reduction in the energy needs of electronic devices (remember Koomey’s law according to which, in 20 years, a device will require 10 000 times less energy to compute a given task) and the advent of trillions of internet device objects [Internet of Things (IoT)], there is a need to rethink the design of the network of the future so that wireless can reach its full potential not only to carry information but also to transfer energy.