Performance Analysis of Energy Harvesting in Dense Urban Millimeter-Wave Cellular Network Using Stochastic Geometry

Abstract

Energy harvesting (EH) in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) cellular networks has recently gained considerable interest due to the extensive use of massive antenna arrays and the dense deployment of base stations (BSs). Solid objects can easily block mm-wave signals, leading to high path losses, which result in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions and signal outages. This paper presents an analytical framework to evaluate the energy coverage probability (ECP) performance of typical user equipment (TUE) in mm-wave cellular networks employing stochastic geometry. We utilize a line-of-sight (LOS) ball model to incorporate the blockage effects and derive a closed-form expression for the ECP. We compare the ECP derived from the LOS ball model with that from random shape blockage models, which are adapted to urban building data for Austin and Los Angeles. We also investigate the impact of varying the LOS ball radius on ECP performance. The derived ECP expression proves analytically tractable, enabling further analysis. The results show that the LOS ball model effectively characterizes the effect of blockages, similar to the random shape model. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that increasing the density of BSs leads to an increasing trend in the ECP, making the influence of NLOS links negligible compared to that of LOS links. The reason is that dense BS deployment enhances the likelihood of having an LOS link between the BS and the UE. This study provides valuable insights for developing efficient wireless EH systems in mm-wave networks by leveraging higher BS density and enhancing LOS conditions.