Toward Ubiquitous Sensing and Localization With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

In future cellular systems, wireless localization and sensing functions will be built-in for specific applications, e.g., navigation, transportation, and healthcare, and to support flexible and seamless connectivity. Driven by this trend, the need for fine-resolution sensing solutions and centimeter-level localization accuracy arises, while the accuracy of current wireless systems is limited by the quality of the propagation environment. Recently, with the development of new materials, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) provide an opportunity to reshape and control the electromagnetic characteristics of the environment, which can be utilized to improve the performance of wireless sensing and localization. In this tutorial, we will first review the background and motivation for utilizing wireless signals for sensing and localization. Next, we will introduce how to incorporate RIS into applications of sensing and localization, including key challenges and enabling techniques, and then, some case studies will be presented. Finally, future research directions will also be discussed.

I. Introduction

Driven by a wide range of emerging applications such as automated vehicles and robots, future wireless networks will be required to enable high-resolution environmental awareness in order to fulfill interactions between the digital and physical worlds. This can be achieved by sensing and localization functions in wireless networks. In other words, a device in the wireless network should have the ability to know its location as well as detect the presence of objects (including their shapes, locations, and speeds of movement) in the operating environment using transmitted or received radio signals [1].