  In this paper, we propose a fairness-aware rate maximization scheme for a
wireless powered communications network (WPCN) assisted by an intelligent
reflecting surface (IRS). The proposed scheme combines user scheduling based on
time division multiple access (TDMA) and (mechanical) angular displacement of
the IRS. Each energy harvesting user (EHU) has dedicated time slots with
optimized durations for energy harvesting and information transmission whereas,
the phase matrix of the IRS is adjusted to focus its beam to a particular EHU.
The proposed scheme exploits the fundamental dependence of the IRS channel
path-loss on the angle between the IRS and the node's line-of-sight, which is
often overlooked in the literature. Additionally, the network design can be
optimized for large number of IRS unit cells, which is not the case with the
computationally intensive state-of-the-art schemes. In fact, the EHUs can
achieve significant rates at practical distances of several tens of meters to
the base station (BS) only if the number of IRS unit cells is at least a few
thousand.
