Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks and Delay-Tolerant Networks With Wireless Energy Harvesting

Mobile ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) are composed of mobile nodes communicating over multiple hops from a source to a destination. They do not have an infrastructure such as a base station or an access point to facilitate data transfer. Mobile nodes acting as relays receive data from the source or other relays and forward such data to the next hop until the destination has been reached. Delay-tolerant Networks (DTNs) are a special kind of MANET that will allow mobile nodes to receive, store, and forward data when they move and meet each other. Unlike in MANETs, in DTNs, there is no need for an end-to-end path from the source to the destination when the data are transferred. Thus, DTNs are suitable for non-real-time traffic, namely delay-tolerant traffic. Typically, in MANETs and DTNs, the energy supply to the mobile nodes in the networks is limited and intermittent. Additionally, mobility makes data transfer less reliable than in infrastructure-based wireless networks such as cellular systems. Therefore, when one adopts wireless energy harvesting and transfer, some related issues, e.g., routing and energy replenishment, have to be revisited. This chapter deals with wireless-powered MANETs and DTNs. Firstly, overviews of MANETs and DTNs are presented. Some issues related to energy in conventional MANETs and DTNs are discussed. Then, the chapter presents in detail energy management approaches for mobile nodes in wireless-powered MANETs and DTNs.