IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: Wirelessly Powered Networks: Algorithms, Applications, and Technologies

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is, by definition, a process that occurs in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to a load without the connection of electrical conductors. WPT is the driving technology that will enable the next stage in the current consumer electronics revolution, including battery-less sensors, passive RF identification (RFID), passive wireless sensors, the Internet of Things and 5G, and machine-to-machine solutions. WPT-enabled devices can be powered by harvesting energy from the surroundings, including electromagnetic (EM) energy, leading to a new communication networks paradigm, the Wirelessly Powered Networks. While recent advances in wireless utensils appear to be unlimited, the dependence of their operation on batteries remains a weakness, mainly because batteries come with a limited lifetime and require a fast charge time to achieve continuous operation. This is where the technologies of WPT become useful, bringing together wireless energy and data transmission. WPT technologies substitute the traditional powering concept, where a cable or a battery is connected to the wireless device, by the transmission of energy over the air in an efficient way to power-up the device. Wirelessly Powered Networks have recently evolved into a very active research field, as well as a topic of rapid technological progress, emerging practical developments and standardization activities. However, a solid foundational, technological, and applied background is still necessary for Wirelessly Powered Networks to achieve their full potential. The provisioning of relevant technological models, algorithmic design and analysis methods, networking principles, circuit and system design, and application methodologies is a challenging task. This Special Section in IEEE Access invited academic and industrial experts to make their contributions on Wirelessly Powered Networks. It selectively spans a coherent, large spectrum of fundamental aspects of WPT, and will focus on three main thematic pillars and relevant themes: Algorithms, Applications and Technologies. Our call for papers received an enthusiastic response with 47 high-quality submissions, covering diverse topics on Wirelessly Powered Networks. All articles were reviewed by at least two independent referees. The articles were evaluated for their rigor and quality, and also for their relevance to the theme of our Special Section. We eventually accepted 19 articles for publication, some of which after multiple revisions. The accepted articles cover a variety of important and challenging topics in the area of wirelessly powered networks and they provide a high geographical diversity, coming from China, Czech Republic, France, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, UAE, UK and USA. The accepted articles cover a diverse spectrum of WPT application areas and methods, broadly divided in 4 categories: Internet of Things Networks (7 articles), Wireless Powered Communication Networks (5 articles), Cognitive Radio Networks (2 articles), Simultaneous Wireless Power and Information Transfer (5 articles). Below we present the accepted articles per category.