Implementing self-sustainable wireless communication systems is urgent and challenging for 5G and 6G technologies. In this paper, we elaborate on a system solution using the programmable metasurface (PMS) for simultaneous wireless information and power transfers (SWIPT), offering an optimized wireless energy management network. Both transmitting and receiving sides of the proposed solution are presented in detail. On the transmitting side, employing the wireless power transfer (WPT) technique, we present versatile power conveying strategies for near-field or far-field targets, single or multiple targets, and equal or unequal power targets. On the receiving side, utilizing the wireless energy harvesting (WEH) technique, we report our work on multi-functional rectifying metasurfaces that collect the wirelessly transmitted energy and the ambient energy. More importantly, a numerical model based on the plane-wave angular spectrum method is investigated to accurately calculate the radiation fields of PMS in the Fresnel and Fraunhofer regions. With this model, the efficiencies of WPT between the transmitter and the receiver are analyzed. Finally, future research directions are discussed, and integrated PMS for wireless information and wireless power is outlined.
