Propagation Study of Vision-Based RIS Beam Tracking for mmWave Communications

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces have emerged as a technology with the potential to enhance wireless communication performance for 5G and beyond. This paper focuses on analyzing the multipath components that arise from the insertion of such a device into the wireless channel. A computer vision-based beam tracking algorithm was used for continuously steering the reconfigurable intelligent surface towards the target. The results show that a reconfigurable intelligent surface can provide additional multipath components whose corresponding power contribution could be crucial to overcome blockage situations. A received power boost of up to 3 dB can be perceived in both line-of-sight and non line-of-sight regions.

I. Introduction

The ever-increasing need for higher data rates and the scarcity of the radio spectrum have been influential factors for the exploration of communication at higher frequencies with each new technology release. Propagation in radio bands such as millimeter wave (mmWave) or subterahertz starts to show characteristics close to that of optical propagation, where line-of-sight (LOS) and specular reflections are the dominant propagation mechanisms [1], [2]. Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have exploited a large number of antenna elements to enable coherent processing of electromagnetic waves (EM) resulting in beamforming gains to withstand the harsh wireless channel at higher frequencies at the transmitting and receiving ends.