Reconfigurable-Intelligent-Surface Empowered Wireless Communications: Challenges and Opportunities

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are regarded as a promising emerging hardware technology to improve the spectrum and energy efficiency of wireless networks by artificially reconfiguring the propagation environment of electromagnetic waves. Due to the unique advantages in enhancing wireless channel capacity, RISs have recently become a hot research topic. In this article, we focus on three fundamental physical-layer challenges for the incorporation of RISs into wireless networks, namely, channel state information acquisition, passive information transfer, and low-complexity robust system design. We summarize the state-of-the-art solutions and explore potential research directions. Furthermore, we discuss other promising research directions of RISs, including edge intelligence and physical-layer security.

Automated summary

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are considered a promising emerging hardware technology to enhance the performance of wireless networks by altering the propagation environment of electromagnetic waves. This article focuses on the challenges and solutions for incorporating RISs into wireless networks, as well as discussing future research directions.