The concept of large intelligent surface (LIS)-based communication has recently attracted increasing research attention, where a LIS is considered as an antenna array whose entire surface area is available for radio signal transmission and reception. In order to provide a fundamental understanding of LIS-based communication, this paper studies the uplink performance of LIS-based communication with matched filtering in the presence of a line-of-sight channel. We first study the new features introduced by LIS. In particular, the array gain, spatial resolution, and the capability of interference suppression are theoretically presented and characterized. Then, we study two possible LIS system layouts, i.e., centralized LIS (C-LIS) and distributed LIS (D-LIS), and propose a user association scheme aiming to maximize the minimum user spectral efficiency (SE). Simulation results compare the achievable SE between two system layouts. We observe that the proposed user association algorithm significantly improves the performance of D-LIS, and with the help of it, the per-user achievable SE in D-LIS outperforms that in C-LIS in most considered scenarios.
As an emerging technology and evolution that goes beyond massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO), large intelligent surface (LIS) has gained much interest recently. LIS acts as an electromagnetic surface and can transmit, redirect, and receive radiating signals across its entire contiguous surface. It allows for unprecedented energy-focusing, data-transmission and terminal-positioning, and can fulfill the most grand visions for future communication systems. Earlier proposed LISs are in two-dimensional (2D), i.e., planar shapes. In this paper, we extend LIS to be three-dimensional (3D) and depl…
In this paper, transmission through large intelligent surfaces (LIS) that intentionally modify the phases of incident waves to improve the signal quality at the receiver, is put forward as a promising candidate for future wireless communication systems and standards. For the considered LIS-assisted system, a general mathematical framework is presented for the calculation of symbol error probability (SEP) by deriving the distribution of the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Next, the new concept of using the LIS itself as an access point (AP) is proposed. Extensive computer simulation resul…
Large intelligent surface (LIS) has emerged as a promising new solution to improve the energy and spectrum efficiency of wireless networks. A LIS, composed of a large number of low-cost and energy-efficient reconfigurable passive reflecting elements, enhances wireless communications by reflecting impinging electro-magnetic waves. In this paper, we propose a novel passive beamforming and information transfer (PBIT) technique, in which the LIS simultaneously enhances the primary communication and sends information to the receiver. We develop a passive beamforming method to improve the average re…
Large intelligent surfaces (LISs) have been recently proposed as an effective wireless communication solution that can leverage antenna arrays deployed on the entirety of man-made structures such as walls. An LIS can provide space-intensive and reliable communication, enabling the desired wireless channel to exhibit a perfect line-of-sight. However, the outage probability of LIS, which is an important performance metric to evaluate the system reliability, remains uncharacterized. In this paper, the distribution of uplink sum-rate is asymptotically analyzed for an LIS system. Given the derived …
Large intelligent surface/antennas (LISA), a two-dimensional artificial structure with a large number of reflective-surface/antenna elements, is a promising reflective radio technology to construct programmable wireless environments in a smart way. Specifically, each element of the LISA adjusts the reflection of the incident electromagnetic waves with unnatural properties, such as negative refraction, perfect absorption, and anomalous reflection, thus the wireless environments can be software-defined according to various design objectives. In this paper, we introduce the reflective radio basic…
The concept of large intelligent surface (LIS)-based communication has recently raised research attention, in which a LIS is regarded as an antenna array whose entire surface area can be used for radio signal transmission and reception. To provide a fundamental understanding of LIS-based communication, this paper studies the uplink (UL) performance of LIS-based communication with matched filtering. We first investigate the new properties introduced by LIS. In particular, the array gain, spatial resolution, and the capability of interference suppression are theoretically presented and character…
Employing large intelligent surfaces (LISs) is a promising solution for improving the coverage and rate of future wireless systems. These surfaces comprise a massive number of nearly-passive elements that interact with the incident signals, for example by reflecting them, in a smart way that improves the wireless system performance. Prior work focused on the design of the LIS reflection matrices assuming full knowledge of the channels. Estimating these channels at the LIS, however, is a key challenging problem, and is associated with large training overhead given the massive number of LIS elem…
In this paper, we consider a wireless communication system where a large intelligent surface (LIS) is deployed comprising a number of small and distributed LIS-Units. Each LIS-Unit has a separate signal process unit (SPU) and is connected to a central process unit (CPU) that coordinates the behaviors of all the LIS-Units. With such a LIS system, we consider the user assignments both for sum-rate and minimal user-rate maximizations. That is, assuming $M$ LIS-Units deployed in the LIS system, the objective is to select $K$ ($K\!\leq\!M$) best LIS-Units to serve $K$ autonomous users simultaneousl…
In this paper, we investigate channel estimation for a large intelligent surface (LIS) aided multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system. Due to the close proximity of communication devices and LIS terminal, the desired channels can be modeled as line-of-sight channels which are ill-conditioned. To estimate these channel matrices with high quality, we propose a two-stage channel estimation method. In particular, we employ the conventional time-division duplexing based MIMO channel estimation technique in the first stage to estimate the direct MIMO channel between the end termina…
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system for the fifth generation (5G) cellular communications can also enable single-anchor positioning and object tracking due to its large bandwidth and inherently high angular resolution. In this paper, we introduce the newly invented concept, large intelligent surface (LIS), to mmWave positioning systems, study the theoretical performance bounds (i.e., Cramér-Rao lower bounds) for positioning, and evaluate the impact of the number of LIS elements and the value of phase shifters on the position estimation accuracy compared to the…
This paper proposes a communication model for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems based on large intelligent surfaces (LIS), where the LIS is modeled as a collection of tightly packed antenna elements. The LIS system is first represented in a circuital way, obtaining expressions for the radiated and received powers, as well as for the coupling between the distinct elements. Then, this circuital model is used to characterize the channel in a line-of-sight propagation scenario, rendering the basis for the analysis and design of MIMO systems. Due to the particular properties o…
With the potential to provide a clean break from massive multiple-input multiple-output, large intelligent surfaces (LISs) have recently received a thrust of research interest. Various proposals have been made in the literature to define the exact functionality of LISs, ranging from fully active to largely passive solutions. Nevertheless, almost all studies in the literature investigate the fundamental spectral efficiency performance of these architectures. In stark contrast, this paper investigates the implementation aspects of LISs. Using the fully active LIS as the basis of our exposition, …
Large intelligent surfaces (LISs) constitute a new and promising wireless communication paradigm that relies on the integration of a massive number of antenna elements over the entire surfaces of man-made structures. The LIS concept provides many advantages, such as the capability to provide reliable and space-intensive communications by effectively establishing line-of-sight (LOS) channels. In this paper, the system spectral efficiency (SSE) of an uplink LIS system is asymptotically analyzed under a practical LIS environment with a well-defined uplink frame structure. In order to verify the i…
The concept of a large intelligent surface (LIS) has recently emerged as a promising wireless communication paradigm that can exploit the entire surface of man-made structures for transmitting and receiving information. An LIS is expected to go beyond massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, insofar as the desired channel can be modeled as a perfect line-of-sight. To understand the fundamental performance benefits, it is imperative to analyze its achievable data rate, under practical LIS environments and limitations. In this paper, an asymptotic analysis of the uplink data rate in…
Large intelligent surface (LIS)-assisted wireless communications have drawn attention worldwide. With the use of low-cost LIS on building walls, signals can be reflected by the LIS and sent out along desired directions by controlling its phases, thereby providing supplementary links for wireless communication systems. In this study, we evaluate the performance of an LIS-assisted large-scale antenna system by formulating a tight approximation of the ergodic capacity and investigate the effect of the phase shifts on the ergodic capacity in different propagation scenarios. In particular, we propo…
In this paper, we investigate a large intelligent surface-enhanced (LIS-enhanced) system, where a LIS is deployed to assist secure transmission. Our design aims to maximize the achievable secrecy rates in different channel models, i.e., Rician fading and (or) independent and identically distributed Gaussian fading for the legitimate and eavesdropper channels. In addition, we take into consideration an artificial noise-aided transmission structure for further improving system performance. The difficulties of tackling the aforementioned problems are the structure of the expected secrecy rate exp…
Large intelligent surface (LIS) has recently emerged as a potential low-cost solution to reshape the wireless propagation environment for improving the spectral efficiency. In this paper, we consider a downlink millimeter-wave (mmWave) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system, where an LIS is deployed to assist the downlink data transmission from a base station (BS) to a user equipment (UE). Both the BS and the UE are equipped with a large number of antennas, and a hybrid analog/digital precoding/combining structure is used to reduce the hardware cost and energy consumption. We aim to maxi…
This paper studies the uplink spectral efficiency (SE) achieved by two single-antenna user equipments (UEs) communicating with a Large Intelligent Surface (LIS), defined as a planar array consisting of $N$ antennas that each has area $A$. The analysis is carried out with a deterministic line-of-sight propagation channel model that captures key fundamental aspects of the so-called geometric near-field of the array. Maximum ratio (MR) and minimum mean squared error (MMSE) combining schemes are considered. With both schemes, the signal and interference terms are numerically analyzed as a function…
We consider the potential for positioning with a system where antenna arrays are deployed as a large intelligent surface (LIS), which is a newly proposed concept beyond massive-MIMO where future man-made structures are electronically active with integrated electronics and wireless communication making the entire environment \lq\lq{}intelligent\rq\rq{}. In a first step, we derive Fisher-information and Cramér-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) in closed-form for positioning a terminal located perpendicular to the center of the LIS, whose location we refer to as being on the central perpendicular line (CP…
We consider the potential for positioning with a system where antenna arrays are deployed as a large intelligent surface (LIS). We derive Fisher-informations and Cramér-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) in closed-form for terminals along the central perpendicular line (CPL) of the LIS for all three Cartesian dimensions. For terminals at positions other than the CPL, closed-form expressions for the Fisher-informations and CRLBs seem out of reach, and we alternatively provide approximations (in closed-form) which are shown to be very accurate. We also show that under mild conditions, the CRLBs in general …
The Large Intelligent Surface (LIS) concept is a promising technology aiming to revolutionize wireless communication by exploiting spatial multiplexing at its fullest. Despite of its potential, due to the size of the LIS and the large number of antenna elements involved there is a need of decentralized architectures together with distributed algorithms which can reduce the inter-connection data-rate and computational requirement in the Central Processing Unit (CPU). In this article we address the uplink detection problem in the LIS system and propose a decentralize architecture based on panels…
In this paper, we consider the potential of data-transmission in a system with a massive number of radiating and sensing elements, thought of as a contiguous surface of electromagnetically active material. We refer to this as a large intelligent surface (LIS). The "LIS" is a newly proposed concept, which conceptually goes beyond contemporary massive MIMO technology, that arises from our vision of a future where man-made structures are electronically active with integrated electronics and wireless communication making the entire environment "intelligent". We consider capacities of single-antenn…
This paper analyzes the optimal communication involving large intelligent surfaces (LIS) starting from electromagnetic arguments. Since the numerical solution of the corresponding eigenfunctions problem is in general computationally prohibitive, simple but accurate analytical expressions for the link gain and available spatial degrees-of-freedom (DoF) are derived. It is shown that the achievable DoF and gain offered by the wireless link are determined only by geometric factors, and that the classical Friis' formula is no longer valid in this scenario where the transmitter and receiver could op…
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a communication model for Large Intelligent Surfaces (LIS). A LIS is modelled as a collection of tiny closely spaced antenna elements. Due to the proximity of the elements, mutual coupling arises. An optimal transmitter design depends on the mutual coupling matrix. For single user communication, the optimal transmitter uses the inverse of the mutual coupling matrix in a filter matched to the channel vector. We give the expression of the mutual coupling for two types of planar arrays. The conditioning number of the mutual coupling matrix is unbounded as…
We consider a multi-user Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) communication system comprising of a multi-antenna base station communicating in the downlink simultaneously with multiple single-antenna mobile users. This communication is assumed to be assisted by a Large Intelligent Surface (LIS) that consists of many nearly passive antenna elements, whose parameters can be tuned according to desired objectives. The latest design advances on these surfaces suggest cheap elements effectively acting as low resolution (even $1$-bit resolution) phase shifters, whose joint configuration affects the el…
In this paper, we consider capacity degradations stemming from potential hardware impairments (HWI) of newly proposed Large Intelligent Surface (LIS) systems. Without HWI, the utility of surface-area (the first-order derivative of the capacity with respect to surface-area) is shown to be proportional to the inverse of it. With HWI, the capacity as well as the utility of surface-area are both degraded, due to a higher effective noise level caused by the HWI. After first modeling the HWI in a general form, we derive the effective noise density and the decrement of utility in closed-forms. With t…
Indexed modulation (IM) is an evolving technique that has become popular due to its ability of parallel data communication over distinct combinations of transmission entities. In this article, we first provide a comprehensive survey of IM-enabled multiple access (MA) techniques, emphasizing the shortcomings of existing non-indexed MA schemes. Theoretical comparisons are presented to show how the notion of indexing eliminates the limitations of non-indexed solutions. We also discuss the benefits that the utilization of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can offer when deployed as an ind…
Duzce University（迪兹杰大学）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；University of Luxembourg（卢森堡大学）
This letter presents the first work introducing a deep learning (DL) framework for channel estimation in large intelligent surface (LIS) assisted massive MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) systems. A twin convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is designed and it is fed with the received pilot signals to estimate both direct and cascaded channels. In a multi-user scenario, each user has access to the CNN to estimate its own channel. The performance of the proposed DL approach is evaluated and compared with state-of-the-art DL-based techniques and its superior performance is demonstr…
