Energy-efficient resource allocation for UAV-aided full-duplex OFDMA wireless powered IoT communication networks

Abstract

The rapid development of wireless-powered Internet of Things (IoT) networks, supported by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and full-duplex technologies, has opened new avenues for simultaneous data transmission and energy harvesting. In this context, optimizing energy efficiency (EE) is crucial for ensuring sustainable and efficient network operation. This paper proposes a novel approach to EE optimization in multi-UAV-aided wireless-powered IoT networks, focusing on balancing the uplink data transmission rates and total system energy consumption within an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) framework. This involves formulating the EE optimization problem as a Multi-Objective Optimization Problem (MOOP), consisting of the maximization of the uplink total rate and the minimization of the total system energy consumption, which is then transformed into a Single-Objective Optimization Problem (SOOP) using the Tchebycheff method. To address the non-convex nature of the resulting SOOP, characterized by combinatorial variables and coupled constraints, we developed an iterative algorithm that combines Block Coordinate Descent (BCD) with Successive Convex Approximation (SCA). This algorithm decouples the subcarrier assignment and power control subproblems, incorporates a penalty term to relax integer constraints, and alternates between solving each subproblem until convergence is reached. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms baseline approaches in key performance metrics, highlighting the practical applicability and robustness of our framework for enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of real-world UAV-assisted wireless networks. Our findings provide insights for future research on extending the proposed framework to scenarios involving dynamic UAV mobility, multi-hop communication, and enhanced energy management, thereby supporting the development of next-generation sustainable communication systems.