RIS-enabled smart wireless environments: deployment scenarios, network architecture, bandwidth and area of influence
Review article, 2023
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, localisation, 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 standardised interfaces. We identify various RIS deployment strategies and sketch the core architectural requirements in terms of RIS control and signalling, depending on the RIS hardware architectures and respective capabilities. Furthermore, we introduce and discuss, with the aid of simulations and reflect array measurements, two novel metrics that emerge in the context of RIS-empowered wireless systems: the RIS bandwidth of influence and the RIS area of influence. Their extensive investigation corroborates the need for careful deployment and planning of the RIS technology in future wireless networks.
Wave propagation control
Smart wireless environments
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces
Bandwidth of influence
Area of influence
Deployment scenarios
Network architecture
Author
G. C. Alexandropoulos
University of Athens
D.T. Phan-Huy
Orange
Konstantinos D. Katsanos
University of Athens
Maurizio Crozzoli
TIM
Henk Wymeersch
Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks
Petar Popovski
Aalborg University
Philippe Ratajczak
Orange
Yohann Benedic
Orange
Marie Helene Hamon
Orange
Sebastien Herraiz Gonzalez
Orange
Placido Mursia
NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH
Marco Rossanese
NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH
Vincenzo Sciancalepore
NEC Laboratories Europe GmbH
Jean Baptiste Gros
Greenerwave
Sergio Terranova
University of Nottingham
G. Gradoni
University of Nottingham
Paolo Di Lorenzo
Sapienza University of Rome
Moustafa Rahal
Grenoble Alpes University
B. Denis
Grenoble Alpes University
Raffaele D’Errico
Grenoble Alpes University
Antonio Clemente
Grenoble Alpes University
Emilio Calvanese Strinati
Grenoble Alpes University
Eurasip Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking
1687-1472 (ISSN) 1687-1499 (eISSN)
Vol. 2023 1 103Reconfigurable Intelligent Sustainable Environments for 6G Wireless Networks
European Commission (EC) (EC/2020/101017011), 2021-01-01 -- 2023-12-31.
Areas of Advance
Information and Communication Technology
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Telecommunications
Communication Systems
DOI
10.1186/s13638-023-02295-8