On Downlink Resource Allocation for SWIPT in Small Cells in a Two-Tier HetNet

We study the downlink resource allocation problem for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in small cells underlaying a macrocell in a two-tier heterogeneous network. For SWIPT, we consider both time-switching and power-splitting approaches. We determine downlink transmit power of small cell base stations along with time-switching/power-splitting variables for SWIPT to jointly optimize energy harvesting rate and achievable throughput of small cell users while ensuring minimum throughput of macrocell user. In the time-switching approach, the resource allocation problem is formulated as a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem. The formulated MINLP problem is solved by relaxing the binary integer constraint and then identifying the condition at which the obtained solution satisfies that constraint. In both the time-switching and power-splitting approaches, in the presence of non-negligible co-tier interference, the formulated problem is solved sub-optimally by iteratively maximizing the minorant of the non-convex objective function. A special case with negligible co-tier interference is considered in the time-switching approach and the optimal solution is obtained by using convex optimization techniques. Numerical results demonstrate significant gain in energy harvesting rate when macrocell users have flexible interference tolerance levels in time-switching approach, highlight the improvement in energy harvesting rate in the presence of co-tier interference signal, and reveal interesting trade-off in achievable throughput and energy harvesting rate.