Reflection probability in wireless networks with metasurface-coated environmental objects: an approach based on random spatial processes

• Published in: EURASIP journal on wireless communications and networking Vol. 2019; no. 1; pp. 1 - 15
• Main Authors: Di Renzo, Marco, Song, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 23.04.2019; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: 5Gwireless - Innovative Architectures; Coating; Communications Engineering; Computer Science; Computer simulation; Engineering; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Information Theory; Mathematical models; Metasurfaces; Networks; Radio waves; Random spatial processes; Reconfigurable metasurfaces; Reconfiguration; Reflection; Reflection probability; Signal,Image and Speech Processing; Stochastic geometry; Wireless networks; Wireless Technologies and Tools for High Capacity and Sustainable 5G Ultra-Dense Cellular Networks; Stochastic geometry; Reflection probability; Random spatial processes; Reconfigurable metasurfaces; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 1687-1499; 1687-1472; 1687-1499
• DOI: 10.1186/s13638-019-1403-7

An emerging and promising vision of wireless networks consists of coating the environmental objects with reconfigurable metasurfaces that are capable of modifying the radio waves impinging upon them according to the generalized law of reflection. By relying on tools from point processes, stochastic geometry, and random spatial processes, we model the environmental objects with a modified random line process of fixed length and with random orientations and locations. Based on the proposed modeling approach, we develop the first analytical framework that provides one with the probability that a randomly distributed object that is coated with a reconfigurable metasurface acts as a reflector for a given pair of transmitter and receiver. In contrast to the conventional network setup where the environmental objects are not coated with reconfigurable metasurfaces, we prove that the probability that the typical random object acts as a reflector is independent of the length of the object itself. The proposed analytical approach is validated against Monte Carlo simulations, and numerical illustrations are given and discussed.