RECONFIGURABLE INTELLIGENT SURFACES FOR FUTURE WIRELESS NETWORKS: A CHANNEL MODELING PERSPECTIVE

While researchers have set their sights on future wireless networks of 2030, communications through reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) appears as one of the potential enabling technologies for 6G wireless networking. This article aims to shed light on the potential use-cases of RISs in future wireless systems by means of a novel channel modeling methodology as well as a new software tool for RIS-empowered millimeter-wave communication systems. It is shown by the open-source, user-friendly, and widely applicable SimRIS Channel Simulator, whose 2.0 version is proposed and goes online by this article, that RISs will work under certain use-cases and communication environments. Potential future research directions are also discussed to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of RIS-empowered systems toward their standardization for 6G wireless networks.

Automated summary

This article explores the potential use-cases of RISs in future wireless systems using a novel channel modeling methodology and a new software tool. The SimRIS Channel Simulator demonstrates the effectiveness of RISs in specific scenarios and communication environments, while also discussing potential future research directions to bridge the gap between theory and practice and standardize RIS-empowered systems for 6G wireless networks.