RF Wireless Power Transfer: Regreening Future Networks

Green radio communication is an emerging topic since the overall footprint of information and communication technology (ICT) services is predicted to triple between 2007 and 2020. Given this research line, energy harvesting (EH) and wireless power transfer (WPT) networks can be evaluated as promising approaches. In this paper, an overview of recent trends for future green networks on the platforms of EH and WPT is provided. By rethinking the application of radio frequency (RF)-WPT, a new concept, namely green RF-WTP, is introduced. Accordingly, opening challenges and promising combinations among current technologies, such as small-cell, millimeter (mm)-wave, and Internet of Things (IoT) networks, are discussed in details to seek solutions for the question with how to re-green the future networks?