Communication Strategies for Two Models of Discrete Energy Harvesting

Energy harvesting is becoming a viable option for powering small wireless devices. Energy for data transmission is supplied by the nature, such that when a transmission is about to take place in an arbitrary instant, the amount of available energy is a random quantity. The arrived energy is stored in a battery and transmissions are interrupted if the battery runs out of energy. We address communication in slot-based energy harvesting systems, where the transmitter communicates with ON-OFF signaling: in each slot it can either choose to transmit (ON) or stay silent (OFF). Two different models of harvesting and communication are addressed. In the first model an energy quantum can arrive, with a certain probability, in each slot. The second model is based on a frame of size F: energy arrives periodically over F slots, in batches containing a random number of energy quanta. We devise achievable strategies and compare the slot-with the frame-based model in the case of an errorless transmission channel. Additionally, for the slot-based model and channel with errors, we provide a new proof of the capacity achieved by the save-and-transmit scheme.