Joint EH Time Allocation and Distributed Beamforming in Interference-Limited Two-Way Networks with EH-Based Relays

In this paper, we consider an amplify-and-forward-based two-way relaying network, in which the relays need to harvest energy from the received radio frequency signals to remain active in the network and assist data exchange between two transceivers. In particular, considering time-switching architecture, we investigate the problem of joint energy harvesting (EH) time allocation and distributed beamforming in the presence of interference. Specifically, assuming that the perfect knowledge of the interfering links is not available, we study three different design approaches. First, we maximize the sum-rate of the network subject to individual EH power constraints at relays. Resorting to the semi-definite relaxation (SDR) and successive upper-bound minimization techniques, we devise an iterative algorithm that efficiently solves such a challenging problem. Next, we minimize the total power consumed by the relays subject to the rate constraints at the transceivers. Finally, we minimize the EH-phase duration subject to the individual EH power constraints at the relays as well as the rate constraints at the transceivers. The rate constraints, however, make both second and third design optimization problems non-convex and complicated. Although no closed-form solutions are available for these approaches, we propose efficient schemes by applying the SDR technique followed by semi-definite programming problems.