Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for 6G Wireless Communications

Dear Colleagues,

Every previous wireless generation has been designed based on the premise that the wireless environment is uncontrollable, and various advanced physical layer techniques have been designed to tackle its negative impact, such as severe signal attenuation, multiuser interference, and refractions and reflections from objects. A certain level of saturation has been reached in terms of capacity performance, which is not capable of supporting next-generation wireless applications that entail ultra-high spectral efficiency, ultra-reliability, and low-latency. As a result, it is imperative to develop a new technology that can control the wireless propagation environment.

Thanks to the recent breakthrough on metamaterials, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have been proposed to be a promising technology that enables the intelligent control of the wireless propagation environment through integrated electronic circuits and software. This is passive and does not need active hardware such as an amplifier, AD/DA converter, etc. Hence, it is energy efficient, light, and has a small size that enables it to be installed on environmental objects.

This Special Issue aims to solicit the most recent advances in channel modeling, analysis, and design of RIS-aided wireless communication systems. The topic of interests include but are not limited to:

• Channel modeling for RIS-aided wireless networks;
• Robust transmission design based on imperfect channel state information/hardware impairment;
• Theoretical performance analysis for RIS-aided wireless networks;
• Channel estimation for RIS-aided wireless networks;
• Deployment optimization for RIS-aided wireless networks;
• Radio location/sensing with the aid of RIS;
• Applications of RIS in high-frequency communications, such as mmWave/Terahertz communications;
• AI-empowered RIS-aided wireless networks;
• Integration of RIS into emerging wireless communication applications such as wireless power transfer, mobile edge computing, physical layer security, UAV communications, etc.;
• Testbeds, experimental measurements in RIS-aided wireless networks.

Dr. Cunhua Pan
Dr. Tong Bai
Dr. Yijin Pan
Guest Editors

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