Increasing indoor spectrum sharing capacity using smart reflect-array

TLDR

Indoor RF spectrum is increasingly congested due to high user density and bandwidth demands, making efficient spectrum‑sharing solutions highly desirable. The study proposes a novel indoor spectrum‑sharing approach that employs a reconfigurable reflect‑array placed within the wireless channel. The method optimally adjusts each reflect‑array element’s phase shift to boost desired signals and suppress interference, and its feasibility is validated through a developed testbed and transport‑capacity experiments. Experiments, theory, and simulations demonstrate that the smart reflect‑array enables multiple users to share the same spectrum band simultaneously, significantly boosting network capacity and spectrum‑spatial efficiency without requiring device modifications.

Abstract

The radio frequency (RF) spectrum becomes overly crowded in some indoor environments due to the high density of users and bandwidth demands. To accommodate the tremendous wireless data demands, efficient spectrum-sharing approaches are highly desired. To this end, this paper introduces a new spectrum sharing solution for indoor environments based on the usage of a reconfigurable reflect-array in the middle of the wireless channel. By optimally controlling the phase shift of each element on the reflect-array, the useful signals for each transmission pair can be enhanced while the interferences can be canceled. As a result, multiple wireless users in the same room can access the same spectrum band at the same time without interfering each other. Hence, the network capacity can be dramatically increased. To prove the feasibility of the proposed solution, an experimental testbed is first developed and evaluated. Then, the effects of the reflect-array on transport capacity of the indoor wireless networks are investigated. Through experiments, theoretical deduction, and simulations, this paper demonstrates that significantly higher spectrum-spatial efficiency can be achieved by using the smart reflect-array without any modification of the hardware and software in the users' devices.