DEBIT: Distributed Energy Beamforming and Information Transfer for Multiway Relay Networks

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new distributed energy beamforming and information transfer (DEBIT) scheme for realizing simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in multiway relay networks (MWRNs), where multiple singleantenna users exchange information via an energy-constrained single-antenna relay node. We investigate the optimal transceiver designs to maximize the achievable sum-rate or the harvested power. The resultant sum-rate maximization problem is non-convex and the global optimal solution can be obtained through a three-dimensional search in combination with conventional convex optimization. To reduce the computation complexity, a suboptimal DEBIT scheme is also proposed, for which the optimization problem becomes linear programming. The achievable sum-rate performance is analyzed and a closed-form lower bound is derived for the MWRN with a large number of users. Furthermore, we consider the harvested-power maximization problem under a target sumrate constraint, and derive a lower bound of the average harvested power for MWRNs with a large number of users. Numerical results show that the DEBIT scheme significantly outperforms the conventional SWIPT and the derived lower bounds are tight.