Pinching Antenna-Aided Wireless Powered Communication Networks

In this letter, we investigate a novel pinching antenna (PA)-aided wireless powered communication network (WPCN), in which multiple PAs are activated along a waveguide to establish robust line-of-sight links with multiple devices. Both time division multiple access (TDMA) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) protocols are considered in the PA-WPCN. Moreover, some practical considerations, including a proportional power model for the PAs, a waveguide transmission loss model, and a nonlinear energy harvesting model, are incorporated into the PA-WPCN. Furthermore, we formulate a sum-rate maximization problem by jointly optimizing resource allocation and PAs position. To address the challenging problem of the PAs position optimization, we propose a high-performance element-wise (EW) algorithm and a low-complexity stochastic parameter differential evolution (SPDE) algorithm. Numerical results validate the remarkable performance of the proposed PA-WPCN and the effectiveness of our algorithms, indicating that optimal performance is attained when the PA power distribution ratio of approximately 0.55-0.6.