Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Assisted Caching Cellular Network in an Urban Environment: Access Strategy and Success Probability Analysis

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), as an emerging hardware which could reflect signals towards any direction, is suitable for improving network coverage in urban environments. In this letter, we combine blockages with IRS and design a mechanism for signals to cross blockages, thereby establishing a “base station-blockage-user” cascaded channel. To analyze the network performance, we use stochastic geometry to model urban networks and analyze the access strategies of typical users, along with the access distance and communication success probability under specific access situations. Meanwhile, we introduce caching mechanism in the network to analyze the impact of complex interference caused by different caching situations. Based on numerical results, we find that the more IRS elements there are, the greater the possibility of access through the IRS. Furthermore, we discover that the quality of communication will not always improve with higher base station density due to the enhancement of interference signals. Moreover, under the popularity model adopted in this letter, we find that a more skewed caching policy will achieve better performance.