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 jointly optimizing the scattering matrix of the fully connected RIS and the transmit beamformers to maximize the sum-rate, we show that the proposed fully connected RIS aided RSMA transmission scheme significantly improves the spectral efficiency compared with the conventional single connected RIS schemes and the schemes without RIS. It acts as a new benchmark for linearly precoded multi-user multi-antenna networks.
The highly sparse nature of propagation channels and the restricted use of radio frequency (RF) chains at transceivers limit the performance of millimeter wave (mmWave) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Introducing reconfigurable antennas to mmWave can offer an additional degree of freedom on designing mmWave MIMO systems. This paper provides a theoretical framework for studying the mmWave MIMO with reconfigurable antennas. We present an architecture of reconfigurable mmWave MIMO with beamspace hybrid analog-digital beamformers and reconfigurable antennas at both the transmitter a…
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…
The K-user multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast channel (BC) with no channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) is considered, where each receiver is assumed to be equipped with reconfigurable antennas capable of choosing a subset of receiving modes from several preset modes. Under general antenna configurations, the sum linear degrees of freedom (LDoF) of the K-user MIMO BC with reconfigurable antennas is completely characterized, which corresponds to the maximum sum DoF achievable by linear coding strategies. The LDoF region is further characterized for a class of ant…
In reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) aided communications, the existing passive beamforming (PB) design involves polynomial complexity in the number of reflecting elements, and thus is difficult to implement due to a massive number of reflecting elements. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a reflection-angle-based cascaded channel model by adopting the generalized Snell's law, in which the dimension of the variable space involved in optimization is significantly reduced, resulting in a simplified hierarchical passive beamforming (HPB) design. We develop an efficient two-stage HPB…
The large spectrum available in the millimeter-Wave (mmWave) band has emerged as a promising solution for meeting the huge capacity requirements of the 5th generation (5G) wireless networks. However, to fully harness the potential of mmWave communications, obstacles such as severe path loss, channel sparsity and hardware complexity should be overcome. In this paper, we introduce a generalized reconfigurable antenna multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) architecture that takes advantage of lens-based reconfigurable antennas. The considered antennas can support multiple radiation patterns simult…
This article considers the performance of wireless communication systems that utilize reconfigurable or pattern-dynamic antennas. The focus is on finite-state channels with memory and performance is assessed in terms of real-time behavior. In a wireless setting, when a slow fading channel enters a deep fade, the corresponding communication system faces the threat of successive decoding failures at the destination. Under such circumstances, rapidly getting out of deep fades becomes a priority. Recent advances in fast reconfigurable antennas provide new means to alter the statistical profile of …
We propose a space-frequency (SF) block coding scheme for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system using antennas with reconfigurable radiation patterns. In this system, each element of the antenna array at the transmitter side is assumed to be reconfigurable so that it can independently change the physical characteristics of its radiation pattern. The proposed block code is full rate and benefits from spatial, frequency, and reconfigurable radiation pattern state diversity over frequency-selective fading channels. We provide simulation r…
In this paper, we consider the transmission of confidential messages over slow fading wireless channels in the presence of an eavesdropper. We propose a transmission scheme that employs a single reconfigurable antenna at each of the legitimate partners, whereas the eavesdropper uses a single conventional antenna. A reconfigurable antenna can switch its propagation characteristics over time and thus it perceives different fading channels. It is shown that without channel side information (CSI) at the legitimate partners, the main channel can be transformed into an ergodic regime offering a \tex…
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 recent years, several experimental studies have come out to validate the theoretical findings of interference alignment (IA), but only a handful of studies have focused on blind interference alignment. Unlike IA and other interference mitigation techniques, blind IA does not require channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The key insight is that the transmitter uses the knowledge of channel coherence intervals and receivers utilize reconfigurable antennas to create channel fluctuations exploited by the transmitter. In this work, we present a novel experimental evaluation of a r…
A spatially reconfigurable antenna arrays consists of an antenna array of finite length and fixed geometry which is displaced within a given area. Using these reconfigurable components, the performance of MIMO systems is remarkably improved by effectively positioning the array in its displacement area. This paper studies the large-system performance of MIMO setups with spatially reconfigurable antenna arrays when the displacement area is large. Considering fading channels, the distribution of the input-output mutual information is derived, and the asymptotic hardening property is demonstrated …
This paper proposes a new multiple access technique based on the millimeter wave lens-based reconfigurable antenna systems. In particular, to support a large number of groups of users with different angles of departures (AoDs), we integrate recently proposed reconfigurable antenna multiple access (RAMA) into non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). The proposed technique, named reconfigurable antenna NOMA (RA-NOMA), divides the users with respect to their AoDs and channel gains. Users with different AoDs and comparable channel gains are served via RAMA while users with the same AoDs but differen…
The performance of millimeter wave (mmWave) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is limited by the sparse nature of propagation channels and the restricted number of radio frequency (RF) chains at transceivers. The introduction of reconfigurable antennas offers an additional degree of freedom on designing mmWave MIMO systems. This paper provides a theoretical framework for studying the mmWave MIMO with reconfigurable antennas. Based on the virtual channel model, we present an architecture of reconfigurable mmWave MIMO with beamspace hybrid analog-digital beamformers and reconfigurable…
To achieve the joint active and passive beamforming gains in the reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted millimeter wave system, the reflected cascade channel needs to be accurately estimated. Many strategies have been proposed in the literature to solve this issue. However, whether the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of such estimation is achievable still remains uncertain. To fill this gap, we first convert the channel estimation problem into a sparse signal recovery problem by utilizing the properties of discrete Fourier transform matrix and Kronecker product. Then, a joint typicality bas…
This paper aims to realize a new multiple access technique based on recently proposed millimeter-wave reconfigurable antenna architectures. To this end, first we show that integration of the existing reconfigurable antenna systems with the well-known non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique causes a significant degradation in sum rate due to the inevitable power division in reconfigurable antennas. To circumvent this fundamental limit, a new multiple access technique is proposed. The technique which is called reconfigurable antenna multiple access (RAMA) transmits only each user's inten…
This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental validation of an origami-inspired reconfigurable antenna. The proposed antenna can operate as a monopole or an inverted-L antenna, by changing its configuration. Doing so changes its operational frequency, principal radiation mode, and directivity. Measurements show that the antenna is able to change its resonance frequency from 750 MHz to 920 MHz---equivalent to 22.6\% frequency shift. Simulations are carried out to compare the radiation characteristics of the antenna (gain and radiation pattern) in both configurations. The results…
We study the symmetric degrees-of-freedom (DoF) of partially connected interference networks under linear coding strategies at transmitters without channel state information beyond topology. We assume that the receivers are equipped with reconfigurable antennas that can switch among their preset modes. In such a network setting, we characterize the class of network topologies in which half linear symmetric DoF is achievable. Moreover, we derive a general upper bound on the linear symmetric DoF for arbitrary network topologies. We also show that this upper bound is tight if the transmitters hav…
Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), a planar metasurface consisting of a large number of low-cost reflecting elements, has received much attention due to its ability to improve both the spectrum and energy efficiencies by reconfiguring the wireless propagation environment. In this paper, we propose a RIS phase shift and BS beamforming optimization technique that minimizes the uplink transmit power of a RIS-aided IoT network. Key idea of the proposed scheme, referred to as Riemannian conjugate gradient-based joint optimization (RCG-JO), is to jointly optimize the RIS phase shift…
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 …
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 …
Crucial developments to the recently introduced signal-space approach for multiplexing multiple data symbols using a single-radio switched antenna are presented. First, we introduce a general framework for expressing the spatial multiplexing relation of the transmit signals only from the antenna scattering parameters and the modulating reactive loading. This not only avoids tedious far-field calculations, but more importantly provides an efficient and practical strategy for spatially multiplexing PSK signals of any modulation order. The proposed approach allows ensuring a constant impedance ma…
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…
The advantages of millimeter-wave and large antenna arrays technologies for accurate wireless localization received extensive attentions recently. However, how to further improve the accuracy of wireless localization, even in the case of obstructed line-of-sight, is largely undiscovered. In this paper, the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is introduced into the system to make the positioning more accurate. First, we establish the three-dimensional RIS-assisted wireless localization channel model. After that, we derive the Fisher information matrix and the Cramer-Rao lower bound for eva…
A two-user downlink network aided by a reconfigurable intelligent surface is considered. The weighted sum signal to interference plus noise ratio maximization and the sum rate maximization models are presented, where the precoding vectors and the RIS matrix are jointly optimized. Since the optimization problem is non-convex and difficult, new approximation models are proposed. The upper bounds of the corresponding objective functions are derived and maximized. Two new algorithms based on the alternating direction method of multiplier are proposed. It is proved that the proposed algorithms conv…
We consider a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system with transceiver hardware impairments (HWIs) and RIS phase noise. Different from the existing contributions, the phase shifts of the RIS are designed based on the long-term angle informations. Firstly, an approximate analytical expression of the uplink achievable rate is derived. Then, we use genetic algorithm (GA) to maximize the sum rate and the minimum date rate. Finally, we show that it is crucial to take HWIs into account when designing the phase shift…
This paper investigates the performance of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with direct links, and the phase shifts of the RIS are designed based on the statistical channel state information (CSI). We first derive the closed-form expression of the uplink ergodic data rate. Then, based on the derived expression, we use the genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the sum data rate maximization problem. With low-complexity maximal-ratio combination (MRC) and low-overhead statistical CSI-based scheme, we validate that the RIS can still br…
In this letter, we investigate joint application of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and vertical beamforming in cognitive radio networks (CRN). After properly modeling the network, an optimization problem is formed to jointly design the beamforming vector and tilt angle at the secondary base station (BS) as well as the phase shifts at the RIS with the objective of maximizing spectral efficiency of the secondary network. The optimization problem is non-convex; thus, we propose an efficient solution method for it. Numerical results show that adding a RIS and optimizing the radiation ori…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided networks have been investigated for the purpose of improving the system performance. However, the introduced unit modulus phase shifts and coupling characteristic bring enormous challenges to the optimization in the RIS-aided networks. Many efforts have been made to jointly optimize phase shift vector and other parameters. This article intends to survey the latest research results about the optimization in RIS-aided networks. A taxonomy is devised to categorize the existing literatures based on optimization types, phase shift form, and decoupling …
In this paper, we focus our attention on the mitigation of beam squint for reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) aided wideband millimeter wave (mmWave) communications. Due to the intrinsic passive property, the phase shifts of all elements in RIS should be the same for all frequencies. However, in the wideband scenario, beam squint induced distinct path phases require designing different phase shifts for different frequencies. The above irreconcilable contradiction will dramatically affect the system performance, considering the RIS usually consists of enormous elements and the bandwidth o…
The reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has arose an upsurging research interest recently due to its promising outlook in 5G-and-beyond wireless networks. With the assistance of RIS, the wireless propagation environment is no longer static and could be customized to support diverse service requirements. In this paper, we will approach the rate maximization problems in RIS-aided wireless networks by considering the beamforming and reflecting design jointly. Three representative design problems from different system settings are investigated based on a proposed unified algorithmic framework…
In this work, we consider the target detection problem in a sensing architecture where the radar is aided by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), that can be modeled as an array of sub-wavelength small reflective elements capable of imposing a tunable phase shift to the impinging waves and, ultimately, of providing the radar with an additional echo of the target. A theoretical analysis is carried out for closely- and widely-spaced (with respect to the target) radar and RIS and for different beampattern configurations, and some examples are provided to show that large gains can be achiev…
Full-duplex systems are expected to achieve 100% rate improvement over half-duplex systems if the self-interference signal can be significantly mitigated. In this paper, we propose the first full-duplex system utilizing Multi-Reconfigurable Antenna (MRA) with ?90% rate improvement compared to half-duplex systems. MRA is a dynamically reconfigurable antenna structure, that is capable of changing its properties according to certain input configurations. A comprehensive experimental analysis is conducted to characterize the system performance in typical indoor environments. The experiments are pe…
This paper presents a quantified assessment of the physical layer security capabilities of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided wireless systems under eavesdropping. Specifically, we derive a closed-form expression for the ergodic secrecy capacity (ESC) that is adaptable to different types of fading and RIS size. The channels between the transmitter (TX) and RIS, the RIS and legitimate receiver as well as the TX and eavesdropper are assumed to follow independent mixture Gamma (MG) distributions. Note that MG is capable of modeling a large variety of well-known distributions, includin…
In this paper, we propose and investigate an aerial reconfigurable intelligent surface (aerial-RIS)-aided wireless communication system. Specifically, considering practical composite fading channels, we characterize the air-to-ground (A2G) links by Namkagami-m small-scale fading and inverse-Gamma large-scale shadowing. To investigate the delay-limited performance of the proposed system, we derive a tight approximate closed-form expression for the end-to-end outage probability (OP). Next, considering a mobile environment, where performance analysis is intractable, we rely on machine learning-ba…
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) draws great attentions in academic and industry due to its passive and low power consumption nature, and has currently been used in physical layer security to enhance the secure transmission. However, due to the existence of double fading effect on the reflecting channel link between transmitter and user, RIS helps achieve limited secrecy performance gain compared with the case without RIS. In this correspondence, we propose a novel active RIS design to enhance the secure wireless transmission, where the reflecting elements in RIS not only adjust the ph…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) provides a promising way to build the programmable wireless transmission environments in the future. Owing to the large number of reflecting elements used at the RIS, joint optimization for the active beamforming at the transmitter and the passive reflector at the RIS is usually complicated and time-consuming. To address this problem, this paper proposes a low-complexity joint beamforming and reflecting algorithm based on fractional programing (FP). Specifically, we first consider a RIS-aided multi-user communication system with perfect channel state in…
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…
Antenna selection is capable of reducing the hardware complexity of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks at the cost of certain performance degradation. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has emerged as a cost-effective technique that can enhance the spectrum-efficiency of wireless networks by reconfiguring the propagation environment. By employing RIS to compensate the performance loss due to antenna selection, in this paper we propose a new network architecture, i.e., RIS-assisted massive MIMO system with antenna selection, to enhance the system performance while enjo…
In this report, we summarize the end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio and the rate of half-duplex, full-duplex, amplify-and-forward, and decode-and-forward relay-aided communications, and well as the signal-to-noise ratio and the rate of the emerging technology known as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces.
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…
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…
This paper focuses on studying orthogonal and non-orthogonal multiple access in intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided systems. Unlike most prior works assuming continuous phase shifts, we employ the practical setup where only a finite number of discrete phase shifts are available. To maximize the sum rate, active beamforming and discrete reflection need to be jointly optimized. We therefore propose an alternative optimization method to get the optimal continuous phase shifts iteratively, and then quantize each phase shift to its nearest discrete value. The sum-rate maximization of differe…
The key obstacle to achieving the full potential of the millimeter wave (mmWave) band has been the poor propagation characteristics of wireless signals in this band. One approach to overcome this issue is to use antennas that can support higher gains while providing beam adaptability and diversity, i.e., reconfigurable antennas. In this article, we present a new architecture for mmWave multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications that uses a new class of reconfigurable antennas. More specifically, the proposed lens-based antennas can support multiple radiation patterns while using a si…
In this work, we present a cloud-aided uplink framework for multi-way multiple-antenna relay systems which facilitates joint linear Maximum Likelihood (ML) symbol detection in the cloud and where users are selected to simultaneously transmit to each other aided by relays. We also investigate relay selection techniques for the proposed cloud-aided uplink framework that uses cloud-based buffers and physical-layer network coding. In particular, we develop a novel multi-way relay selection protocol based on the selection of the best link, denoted as Multi-Way Cloud-Aided Best-User-Link (MWC-Best-U…
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.…
Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is envisioned to be a promising green technology to reduce the energy consumption and improve the coverage and spectral efficiency of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless networks. In a RIS-aided MIMO system, the acquisition of channel state information (CSI) is important for achieving passive beamforming gains of the RIS, but is also challenging due to the cascaded property of the transmitter-RIS-receiver channel and the lack of signal processing capability of the passive RIS elements. The state-of-the-art approach for CSI acquisition…
We propose a novel paradigm for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks that provides diversity and capacity benefits using a single antenna at the Secondary User (SU) receiver. The proposed scheme is based on a reconfigurable antenna: an antenna that is capable of altering its radiation characteristics by changing its geometric configuration. Each configuration is designated as an antenna mode or state and corresponds to a distinct channel realization. Based on an abstract model for the reconfigurable antenna, we tackle two different settings for the cognitive radio problem and present f…
We study the degrees of freedom (DoF) regions of two-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Z and full interference channels in this paper. We assume that the receivers always have perfect channel state information. We first derive the DoF region of Z interference channel with channel state information at transmitter (CSIT). For full interference channel without CSIT, the DoF region has been fully characterized recently and it is shown that the previously known outer bound is not achievable. In this work, we investigate the no-CSIT case further by assuming that the transmitter has the abil…
This article aims to reduce huge pilot overhead when estimating the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) relayed wireless channel. Motivated by the compelling grasp of deep learning in tackling nonlinear mapping problems, the proposed approach only activates a part of RIS elements and utilizes the corresponding cascaded channel estimate to predict another part. Through a synthetic deep neural network (DNN), the direct channel and active cascaded channel are first estimated sequentially, followed by the channel prediction for the inactive RIS elements. A three-stage training strategy is dev…
This paper proposes a novel relay-aided intelligent reconfigurable surface (IRS) architecture for future wireless communication systems. The proposed architecture, which consists of two side-by-side intelligent surfaces connected via a full-duplex relay, has the potential of achieving the promising gains of intelligent surfaces while requiring much smaller numbers of reflecting elements. Consequently, the proposed IRS architecture needs significantly less channel estimation and beam training overhead and provides higher robustness compared to classical IRS approaches. Further, thanks to dividi…
