RIS-enabled smart wireless environments: deployment scenarios, network architecture, bandwidth and area of influence

• Published in: EURASIP journal on wireless communications and networking Vol. 2023; no. 1; pp. 103 - 38
• Main Authors: Alexandropoulos, George C., Phan-Huy, Dinh-Thuy, Katsanos, Konstantinos D., Crozzoli, Maurizio, Wymeersch, Henk, Popovski, Petar, Ratajczak, Philippe, Bénédic, Yohann, Hamon, Marie-Helene, Gonzalez, Sebastien Herraiz, Mursia, Placido, Rossanese, Marco, Sciancalepore, Vincenzo, Gros, Jean-Baptiste, Terranova, Sergio, Gradoni, Gabriele, Di Lorenzo, Paolo, Rahal, Moustafa, Denis, Benoit, D’Errico, Raffaele, Clemente, Antonio, Strinati, Emilio Calvanese
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 10.10.2023; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Series: 6G Connectivity for a Sustainable World
• Subjects: 6G Connectivity for a Sustainable World; Area of influence; Bandwidth of influence; Bandwidths; Communications Engineering; Computer architecture; Computer Science; Deployment scenarios; Electronics; Engineering; Engineering Sciences; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Network architecture; Networking and Internet Architecture; Networks; Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; Review; Signal and Image processing; Signal,Image and Speech Processing; Smart wireless environments; Wave propagation control; Wireless networks; Area of influence; Wave propagation control; Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces; Network architecture; Bandwidth of influence; Deployment scenarios; Smart wireless environments
• ISSN: 1687-1499; 1687-1472; 1687-1499
• DOI: 10.1186/s13638-023-02295-8

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.