Joint movable-element design for ME-STARS-assisted RSMA-SWIPT

Determine how movable-element positioning can be jointly designed with reflection/transmission control, RSMA beamforming, common-rate allocation, and power-splitting ratios in ME-STARS-assisted RSMA-SWIPT networks to improve achievable information rates and harvested energy while satisfying the QoS and energy-harvesting requirements of SWIPT users.

Background

The paper identifies a research gap concerning the application of movable-element simultaneously transmitting and reflecting surfaces (ME-STARS) to simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) systems using rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA). Existing ME-STARS studies had primarily addressed conventional multiuser communication, secure transmission, near-field wideband systems, and RSMA-based information transmission, while the joint information-and-energy-transfer setting had received limited attention.

The unresolved issue is whether and how the positions of ME-STARS elements can be optimized together with the surface reflection/transmission coefficients, base-station RSMA beamforming, allocation of the common rate, and users’ power-splitting ratios. The purpose is to improve both information rates and harvested energy while meeting users’ quality-of-service and energy-harvesting constraints.

References

Consequently, it remains unclear how movable-element positioning can be jointly designed with reflection/transmission control, RSMA beamforming, common-rate allocation, and power-splitting (PS) ratios to improve the achievable information rates and harvested energy while satisfying the QoS and energy-harvesting requirements of SWIPT users.

— Leveraging Movable-Element STARS for RSMA-SWIPT Under Practical System Imperfections  (2609.30172 - Asif et al., 24 Sep 2026) in Introduction, paragraph beginning “Despite the progress reported in the above studies”