The main difficulty concerning optimizing the mutual information (MI) in reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided communication systems with discrete signaling is the inability to formulate this optimization problem in an analytically tractable manner. Therefore, we propose to use the cutoff rate (CR) as a more tractable metric for optimizing the MI and introduce two optimization methods to maximize the CR, assuming perfect knowledge of the channel state information (CSI). The first method is based on the projected gradient method (PGM), while the second method is derived from the principles of successive convex approximation (SCA). Simulation results show that the proposed optimization methods significantly enhance the CR and the corresponding MI.
This letter analyzes the ergodic rates of a simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) aided non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) system, where the direct links from the base station to cell-edge users are non-line-of-sight due to obstacles, and STAR-RIS is used to provide line-of-sight links to these cell-edge users. By fitting the distribution of the composite channel power gain to a gamma distribution, we derive the closed-form expressions of ergodic rates and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) slopes for cell-edge users. Numerical results reveal…
The design of feedback channels in frequency division duplex (FDD) systems is a major challenge because of the limited available feedback bits. We consider non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems that incorporate reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). In limited feedback RIS-aided NOMA systems, the RIS-aided channel and the direct channel gains should be quantized and fed back to the transmitter. This paper investigates the rate loss of the overall RIS-aided NOMA systems suffering from quantization errors. We first consider random vector quantization for the overall RIS-aided channe…
High-speed train (HST) communication is a very challenging scenario in wireless communication systems due to its fast time-varying channels and significant penetration loss. Thanks to the low cost and smart channel reconfiguration ability, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been proposed as a promising technology to solve the aforementioned challenges cost-effectively and to achieve high spectral and energy-efficiency in the next-generation HST communication systems. In this article, we first provide a novel RIS-aided HST wireless communication paradigm, including its main challenges…
In this paper, we study the statistical characterization and modeling of distributed multi-reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided wireless systems. Specifically, we consider a practical system model where the RISs with different geometric sizes are distributively deployed, and wireless channels associated to different RISs are assumed to be independent but not identically distributed (i.n.i.d.). We propose two purpose-oriented multi-RIS-aided schemes, namely, the exhaustive RIS-aided (ERA) and opportunistic RIS-aided (ORA) schemes. A mathematical framework, which relies on the method o…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a revolutionary technology to enhance both the spectral efficiency and energy efficiency of wireless communication systems. However, most of the existing contributions mainly focused on the study of passive RIS, which suffers from the ``double fading'' effect. On the other hand, active RIS, which is equipped with amplifiers, can effectively address this issue. In this paper, we propose an active RIS-aided simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system. Specifically, we maximize the weighted sum rate of the information receivers, …
This letter investigates the secure communication in a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided multiuser massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system exploiting artificial noise (AN). We first derive a closed-form expression of the ergodic secrecy rate under spatially correlated MIMO channels. By using this derived result, we further optimize the power fraction of AN in closed form and the RIS phase shifts by developing a gradient-based algorithm, which requires only statistical channel state information (CSI). Our analysis shows that spatial correlation at the RIS provides an a…
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) is a promising solution to reconfigure the wireless environment in a controllable way. To compensate for the double-fading attenuation in the RIS-aided link, a large number of passive reflecting elements (REs) are conventionally deployed at the RIS, resulting in large surface size and considerable circuit power consumption. In this paper, we propose a new type of RIS, called active RIS, where each RE is assisted by active loads (negative resistance), that reflect and amplify the incident signal instead of only reflecting it with the adjustable phase shi…
In this letter, we consider a dual-hop cooperative network assisted by multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). Assuming that the RIS with the highest instantaneous end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is selected to aid the communication, the outage probability (OP) and average sum-rate are investigated. Specifically, an exact analysis for the OP is developed. In addition, relying on the extreme value theory, closed-form expressions for the asymptotic OP and asymptotic sum-rate are derived, based on which the capacity scaling law is established. Our results are corroborated thro…
We characterize the capacity region of a two-user multiple access channel (MAC) in a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided communication system with side information (SI) at the transmitters. We consider two uplink communication scenarios: (i) a double dirty MAC where the interferences are known non-causally to both users; and (ii) a single dirty MAC model where only one of the users knows the interference and the other one is not aware of the interference. Considering that each of the users is assisted by a different RIS with Mi elements, we derive closed-form expressions for the cap…
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has been recognized as a promising and powerful multiple access (MA) scheme, non-orthogonal transmission framework and interference management strategy for 6G. Inspired by the appealing spectral efficiency gain achieved by RSMA over conventional MA schemes in multi-user multi-antenna transmission, in this paper we introduce RSMA to reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided multiple-input single-out (MISO) broadcast channel (BC). To further enhance the spectral efficiency, a more generalized RIS architecture called fully connected RIS is considered. By…
The simultaneously transmitting and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surface (STAR-RIS) is capable of providing full-space coverage of smart radio environments. This work investigates STAR-RIS aided downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) multi-cell networks, where the energy of incident signals at STAR-RISs is split into two portions for transmitting and reflecting. We first propose a fitting method to model the distribution of composite small-scale fading power as the tractable Gamma distribution. Then, a unified analytical framework based on stochastic geometry is provided to ca…
In this paper, the problem of sum-rate maximization for an active reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) assisted downlink rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) transmission system is studied. In the considered model, the active RIS is deployed to overcome severe power attenuation, which is caused by the cumulative product of RIS incidence path loss and the reflection path loss. Since the active RIS can adjust both the phase and the amplitude of the incident signal simultaneously, the RIS control scheme requires delicate design to improve RSMA communication performance. To address this issue…
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) and orthogonal time-frequency space (OTFS) modulation have gained attention in recent wireless research. RIS technology aids communication by reflecting the incident electromagnetic waves towards the receiver, and OTFS modulation is effective in high-Doppler channels. This paper presents an early investigation of RIS-aided OTFS in high-Doppler channels. We derive the end-to-end delay-Doppler (DD) domain input-output relation of a RIS-aided OTFS system, considering rectangular pulses and fractional delay-Doppler values. We also consider a Zak receiver f…
A novel reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) aided non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) downlink transmission framework is proposed. We formulate a long-term stochastic optimization problem that involves a joint optimization of NOMA user partitioning and RIS phase shifting, aiming at maximizing the sum data rate of the mobile users (MUs) in NOMA downlink networks. To solve the challenging joint optimization problem, we invoke a modified object migration automation (MOMA) algorithm to partition the users into equal-size clusters. To optimize the RIS phase-shifting matrix, we propose a deep…
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) become promising for enhancing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems, i.e., enhancing the channel quality and altering the SIC orders. Invoked by stochastic geometry methods, we investigate the downlink coverage performance of RIS-aided multi-cell NOMA networks. We first derive the RIS-aided channel model, concluding the direct and reflecting links. The analytical results demonstrate that the RIS-aided channel model can be closely modeled as a Gamma distribution. Additionally, interference from other cells is analyzed. Lastly, we derive closed…
In future sixth-generation (6G) mobile networks, the Internet-of-Everything (IoE) is expected to provide extremely massive connectivity for small battery-powered devices. Indeed, massive devices with limited energy storage capacity impose persistent energy demand hindering the lifetime of communication networks. As a remedy, wireless energy transfer (WET) is a key technology to address these critical energy supply issues. On the other hand, cell-free (CF) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems offer an efficient network architecture to realize the roll-out of the IoE. In this ar…
This paper considers a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided millimeter wave (mmWave) downlink communication system where hybrid analog-digital beamforming is employed at the base station (BS). We formulate a power minimization problem by jointly optimizing hybrid beamforming at the BS and the response matrix at the RIS, under signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints. The problem is highly challenging due to the non-convex SINR constraints as well as the non-convex unit-modulus constraints for both the phase shifts at the RIS and the analog beamforming at the BS. A p…
The objective of this paper is to develop simple techniques to enhance the performance of multi-user RIS aided wireless systems. Specifically, we develop a novel technique called \textit{channel separation} which provides a better understanding of how the RIS phases affect the uplink sum rate and sum rates for ZF and MMSE linear receivers. Leveraging channel separation, we propose a simple iterative algorithm to improve the uplink sum rate and the sum rates of ZF and MMSE linear receivers when discrete RIS phases are considered. For continuous RIS phases, we derive simple closed form solutions…
Active reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have recently been proposed to compensate for the severe multiplicative fading effect of conventional passive RIS-aided systems. Each reflecting element of active RISs is assisted by an amplifier such that the incident signal can be reflected and amplified instead of only being reflected as in passive RIS-aided systems. This work addresses the practical challenge that, on the one hand, in active RIS-aided systems the perfect individual CSI of the RIS-aided channels cannot be acquired due to the lack of signal processing power at the active RISs…
The objective of this paper is to develop simple techniques to bound the optimal uplink sum-rate of multi-user RIS-aided wireless systems. Specifically, we develop a novel technique called \textit{channel separation} which provides a new understanding as to how the RIS phases affect the sum-rate. Leveraging channel separation, we derive upper and lower bounds on the optimal sum-rate. In addition, we propose a low-complexity alternating optimization algorithm to obtain near-optimal sum-rate results. Numerical results demonstrate the tightness of the bounds and show that the alternating optimiza…
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are able to provide passive beamforming gain via low-cost reflecting elements and hence improve wireless link quality. This work considers two-way passive beamforming design in RIS-aided frequency division duplexing (FDD) systems where the RIS reflection coefficients are the same for downlink and uplink and should be optimized for both directions simultaneously. We formulate a joint optimization of the transmit/receive beamformers at the base station (BS) and the RIS reflection coefficients. The objective is to maximize the weighted sum of the downlin…
By activating blocked users and altering successive interference cancellation (SIC) sequences, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) become promising for enhancing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems. The downlink RIS-aided NOMA networks are investigated via stochastic geometry. We first introduce the unique path loss model for RIS reflecting channels. Then, we evaluate the angle distributions based on a Poisson cluster process (PCP) model, which theoretically demonstrates that the angles of incidence and reflection are uniformly distributed. Additionally, we derive closed-form …
The problem of simultaneously optimizing the information rate and the harvested power in a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided multiple-input single-output downlink wireless network with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) is addressed. The beamforming vectors, RIS reflection coefficients, and power split ratios are jointly optimized subject to maximum power constraints, minimum harvested power constraints, and realistic constraints on the RIS reflection coefficients. A practical algorithm is developed through an interplay of alternating optimization, sequen…
A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) consists of massive meta elements, which can improve the performance of future wireless communication systems. Existing RIS-aided channel estimation methods try to estimate the cascaded channel directly, incurring high computational and training overhead especially when the number of elements of RIS is extremely large. In this paper, we propose a cost-efficient channel estimation method via rank-one matrix factorization (MF). Specifically, if the RIS is employed near base station (BS), it is found that the RIS- aided channel can be factorized into a p…
This paper proposes highly accurate closed-form approximations to channel distributions of two different reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-based wireless system setups, namely, dual-hop RIS-aided (RIS-DH) scheme and RIS-aided transmit (RIS-T) scheme. Differently from previous works, the proposed approximations reveal to be very tight for arbitrary number $N$ of reflecting metasurface's elements. Our findings are then applied to the performance analysis of the considered systems, in which the outage probability, bit error rate, and average channel capacity are derived. Results show that …
Current scene depth estimation approaches mainly rely on optical sensing, which carries privacy concerns and suffers from estimation ambiguity for distant, shiny, and transparent surfaces/objects. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) provide a path for employing a massive number of antennas using low-cost and energy-efficient architectures. This has the potential for realizing RIS-aided wireless sensing with high spatial resolution. In this paper, we propose to employ RIS-aided wireless sensing systems for scene depth estimation. We develop a comprehensive framework for building accurate…
This article focuses on the exploitation of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) in multi-user networks employing orthogonal multiple access (OMA) or non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), with an emphasis on investigating the interplay between NOMA and RIS. Depending on whether the RIS reflection coefficients can be adjusted only once or multiple times during one transmission, we distinguish between static and dynamic RIS configurations. In particular, the capacity region of RIS aided single-antenna NOMA networks is characterized and compared with the OMA rate region from an information…
The linear minimal mean square error (LMMSE) estimator for active reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided wireless systems is formulated. Furthermore, based on the moment-matching method, we employ the Gamma distribution to approximate the distribution of the instantaneous received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and then derive the closed-form outage probability and ergodic channel capacity in the presence of realistic channel estimation errors, the thermal noise of RIS amplifiers and the RIS phase shift noise. Our theoretical analysis and simulation results show that t…
Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have emerged as a promising technique to enhance the system spectral efficiency. This paper investigates the ergodic channel capacity (ECC) of an RIS-aided multiple-input multiple-output channel under the assumption that the transmitter-RIS, RIS-receiver, and transmitter-receiver channels contain deterministic line-of-sight paths. Novel expressions are derived to characterize the upper and lower bounds of the ECC. To unveil more system insights, asymptotic analyses are performed to the system ECC in the limit of large signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and n…
In this letter, we analyze the secrecy performance of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided communication system with spatially random unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) acting as eavesdroppers. We consider the scenarios where the base station (BS) is equipped with single and multiple antennas.The signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the legitimate user and the eavesdroppers are derived analytically and approximated through a computationally effective method. The ergodic secrecy capacity is approximated and derived in closed-form expressions.Simulation results validate the accuracy of the …
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has recently drawn intensive attention due to its potential of simultaneously realizing high spectral and energy efficiency in a sustainable way. This paper focuses on the design of efficient transmission methods to maximize the uplink sum throughput in a RIS-aided multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) system. To provide an insightful basis, the channel capacity of RIS-aided MU-MIMO is theoretically analyzed. Then, the conventional transmission schemes based on orthogonal multiple access are presented as the baseline. From the information-theore…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided wireless communications have drawn significant attention recently. We study the physical layer security of the downlink RIS-aided transmission framework for randomly located users in the presence of a multi-antenna eavesdropper. To show the advantages of RIS-aided networks, we consider two practical scenarios: Communication with and without RIS. In both cases, we apply the stochastic geometry theory to derive exact probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio.…
A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can shape the radio propagation by passively changing the directions of impinging electromagnetic waves. The optimal control of the RIS requires perfect channel state information (CSI) of all the links connecting the base station (BS) and the mobile station (MS) via the RIS. Thereby the channel (parameter) estimation at the BS/MS and the related message feedback mechanism are needed. In this paper, we adopt a two-stage channel estimation scheme for the RIS-aided millimeter wave (mmWave) MIMO channels using an iterative reweighted method to sequentiall…
This paper focuses on multi-user downlink signal transmission in a wireless system aided by multiple reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). In such a multi-RIS, multi-user, multi-antenna scenario, determining a set of RIS phase shifts to maximize the sum throughput becomes intractable. Hence, we propose a novel scheme that can substantially simplify the optimization of passive beamforming. By opportunistically selecting a user with the best channel condition as the only active transmitter in the system, it degrades to single-user passive beamforming, where two methods, i.e., joint optimiz…
Smart radio environments aided by reconfigurable intelligent reflecting surfaces (RIS) have attracted much research attention recently. We propose a joint optimization strategy for beamforming, RIS phases, and power allocation to maximize the minimum SINR of an uplink RIS-aided communication system. The users are subject to constraints on their transmit power. We derive a closed-form expression for the beam forming vectors and a geometric programming-based solution for power allocation. We also propose two solutions for optimizing the phase shifts at the RIS, one based on the matrix lifting me…
This letter investigates the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with a two-timescale design. First, the zero-forcing (ZF) detector is applied at the base station (BS) based on instantaneous aggregated CSI, which is the superposition of the direct channel and the cascaded user-RIS-BS channel. Then, by leveraging the channel statistical property, we derive the closed-form ergodic achievable rate expression. Using a gradient ascent method, we design the RIS passive beamforming only relying on the long-term statistical CSI. We prove…
Double-reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a promising technique, achieving a substantial gain improvement compared to single-RIS techniques. However, in double-RIS-aided systems, accurate channel estimation is more challenging than in single-RIS-aided systems. This work solves the problem of double-RIS-based channel estimation based on active RIS architectures with only one radio frequency (RF) chain. Since the slow time-varying channels, i.e., the BS-RIS 1, BS-RIS 2, and RIS 1-RIS 2 channels, can be obtained with active RIS architectures, a novel multi-user two-timescale channel esti…
It is challenging to precisely configure the phase shifts of the reflecting elements at the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) due to inherent hardware impairments (HIs). In this paper, the mean square error (MSE) performance is investigated in an RIS-aided single-user multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) communication system with transceiver HIs and RIS phase noise. We aim to jointly optimize the transmit precoder, linear received equalizer, and RIS reflecting matrices to minimize the MSE. To tackle this problem, an iterative algorithm is proposed, wherein the beamforming matrices are a…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been recognized as a potential technology for 5G beyond and attracted tremendous research attention. However, channel estimation in RIS-aided system is still a critical challenge due to the excessive amount of parameters in cascaded channel. The existing compressive sensing (CS)-based RIS estimation schemes only adopt incomplete sparsity, which induces redundant pilot consumption. In this paper, we exploit the specific triple-structured sparsity of the cascaded channel, i.e., the common column sparsity, structured row sparsity after offset compensat…
By activating blocked users and altering successive interference cancellation (SIC) sequences, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) become promising for enhancing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems. This work investigates the downlink performance of RIS-aided NOMA networks via stochastic geometry. We first introduce the unique path loss model for RIS reflecting channels. Then, we evaluate the angle distributions based on a Poisson cluster process (PCP) framework, which theoretically demonstrates that the angles of incidence and reflection are uniformly distributed. Lastly, we …
This work addresses the comparison between active and passive RISs in wireless networks, with reference to the system energy efficiency (EE). To provably convergent and computationally-friendly EE maximization algorithms are developed, which optimize the reflection coefficients of the RIS, the transmit powers, and the linear receive filters. Numerical results show the performance of the proposed methods and discuss the operating points in which active or passive RISs should be preferred from an energy-efficient perspective.
