Joint Resource Optimization for Cognitive Sensor Networks with SWIPT-Enabled Relay

Energy-constrained wireless networks, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs), are usually powered by fixed energy supplies (e.g., batteries), which limits the operation time of networks. Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) is a promising technique to prolong the lifetime of energy-constrained wireless networks. This paper investigates the performance of an underlay cognitive sensor network (CSN) with SWIPT-enabled relay node. In the CSN, the amplify-and-forward (AF) relay sensor node harvests energy from the ambient radio-frequency (RF) signals using power splitting-based relaying (PSR) protocol. Then, it helps forward the signal of source sensor node (SSN) to the destination sensor node (DSN) by using the harvested energy. We study the joint resource optimization including the transmit power and power splitting ratio to maximize CSN’s achievable rate with the constraint that the interference caused by the CSN to the primary users (PUs) is within the permissible threshold. Simulation results show that the performance of our proposed joint resource optimization can be significantly improved.