Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) constitute the key enabler for programmable electromagnetic propagation environments, and are lately being considered as a candidate physical-layer technology for the demanding connectivity, reliability, localization, and sustainability requirements of next generation wireless networks. In this paper, we first present the deployment scenarios for RIS-enabled smart wireless environments that have been recently designed within the ongoing European Union Horizon 2020 RISE-6G project, as well as a network architecture integrating RISs with existing standardized interfaces. We identify various RIS deployment strategies and sketch the core architectural requirements in terms of RIS control and signaling, depending on the RIS hardware architectures and respective capabilities. Furthermore, we introduce and discuss, with the aid of simulations and reflectarray measurements, two novel metrics that emerge in the context of RIS-empowered wireless systems: the RIS bandwidth and area of influence. Their extensive investigation corroborates the need for careful deployment and planning of the RIS technology in future networks.
@article{arxiv.2303.08505,
title = {RIS-Enabled Smart Wireless Environments: Deployment Scenarios, Network Architecture, Bandwidth and Area of Influence},
author = {George C. Alexandropoulos and Dinh-Thuy Phan-Huy and Kostantinos D. Katsanos and Maurizio Crozzoli and Henk Wymeersch and Petar Popovski and Philippe Ratajczak and Yohann Bénédic and Marie-Helene Hamon and Sebastien Herraiz Gonzalez and Placido Mursia and Marco Rossanese and Vincenzo Sciancalepore and Jean-Baptiste Gros and Sergio Terranova and Gabriele Gradoni and Paolo Di Lorenzo and Moustafa Rahal and Benoit Denis and Raffaele D'Errico and Antonio Clemente and Emilio Calvanese Strinati},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.08505},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
43 pages, 21 figures, sumbitted for a journal publication. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2203.13478