IRS-Assisted Wireless Powered NOMA: A Multi-band Scenario

Wireless Powered Communication Networks (WPCNs) enable low-cost devices to harvest energy and transmit data wirelessly, yet face coverage and efficiency limitations. Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) emerge as a promising solution to enhance both Downlink Wireless Power Transfer (DL WPT) and Uplink Wireless Information Transmission (UL WIT) by intelligently reconfiguring the propagation environment. This paper studies the deployment of a single IRS to enhance the performance of WPCNs operating at different frequencies. We propose a joint optimization framework for IRS phase-shift configuration and resource allocation using Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC). Our solution assigns a determined number of ideal phase-shifts per WPCN while fixing the remaining on 0/2π. Results show significant sum-rate gains and highlight performance gaps for future improvements.