An Outlook on the Interplay of Artificial Intelligence and Software-Defined Metasurfaces: An Overview of Opportunities and Limitations
Lina Mohjazi, Ahmed Zoha, Lina Bariah, Sami Muhaidat, Paschalis C. Sofotasios, Muhammad Ali Imran, Octavia A. Dobre
Abstract
Recent advances in programmable metasurfaces, known as software-defined metasurfaces (SDMs), offer a paradigm shift from uncontrollable to fully tunable and customizable wireless propagation environments, enabling a plethora of new applications and technological trends. To explore this cutting-edge technological concept, we review the architecture and electromagnetic (EM) wave manipulation functionalities of SDMs, detail recent advances toward realizing these programmable functionalities in wireless communication applications, elaborate on how artificial intelligence (AI) can address various constraints introduced by the real-time deployment of SDMs, review state-of-the-art research on the integration of AI with SDMs, and offer a look ahead toward unexplored possibilities of AI mechanisms in the context of SDMs.