T-16: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Future Wireless Communications: Part 1

The tutorial will first discuss the most recent standardization activities of 5G networks and then will explain why 5G technologies will not be able to keep the pace for long with the exponential increase of data connectivity demands by end-users, thus motivating the need to go beyond 5G technologies. Then, the fundamentals of RIS will be introduced and the latest results regarding the modeling and design of RIS-based wireless networks, will be presented. Propagation channel models and network deployment approaches for RIS-based systems will be discussed, and the most performing algorithms for the optimization of the radio resources of RIS-based networks will be explained, including optimal power allocation, beamforming strategies, and RIS configuration. The tutorial will also present the latest experimental results of RIS-based wireless communications. In particular, the validation activities conducted using the RIS-based hardware simulation platform developed by Prof. Shi Jin’s group at SouthEast university will be discussed. Finally, the tutorial will summarize the key points and will highlight the most relevant research directions and open problems to be investigated towards the development of beyond 5G RIS-based wireless networks.