Two-hop Communication with Energy Harvesting

Abstract

Communication nodes with the ability to harvest energy from the environment have the potential to operate beyond the timeframe limited by the finite capacity of their batteries; and accordingly, to extend the overall network lifetime. However, the optimization of the communication system in the presence of energy harvesting devices requires a new paradigm in terms of power allocation since the energy becomes available over time. In this paper, we consider the problem of two-hop relaying in the presence of energy harvesting nodes. We identify the optimal offline transmission scheme for energy harvesting source and relay when the relay operates in the full-duplex mode. In the case of a half-duplex relay, we provide the optimal transmission scheme when the source has a single energy packet.