RIS-enabled smart wireless environments: deployment scenarios, network architecture, bandwidth and area of influence
George C. Alexandropoulos, Dinh-Thuy Phan-Huy, Κωνσταντίνος Κατσάνος, Maurizio Crozzoli, Henk Wymeersch, Petar Popovski, Philippe Ratajczak, Yohann Bénédic, Marie‐Hélène Hamon, Sebastien Herraiz Gonzalez, Placido Mursia, Marco Rossanese, Vincenzo Sciancalepore, Jean-Baptiste Gros, S Terranova, Gabriele Gradoni, Paolo Di Lorenzo, Moustafa Rahal, Benoît Denis, Raffaele D’Errico, Antonio Clemente, Emilio Calvanese Strinati
Abstract
Abstract 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.