MARISA: A Self-configuring Metasurfaces Absorption and Reflection Solution Towards 6G

Abstract

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) are considered one of the key disruptive technologies towards future 6G networks. RISs revolutionize the traditional wireless communication paradigm by controlling the wave propagation properties of the impinging signals at will. A major roadblock for RIS is though the need for a fast and complex control channel to continuously adapt to the ever-changing wireless channel conditions. In this paper, we ask ourselves the question: Would it be feasible to remove the need for control channels for RISs? We analyze the feasibility of devising Self-Configuring Smart Surfaces that can be easily and seamlessly installed throughout the environment, following the new Internet-of-Surfaces (IoS) paradigm, without requiring modifications of the deployed mobile network. To this aim we design MARISA, a self-configuring metasurfaces absorption and reflection solution. Our results show that MARISA achieves outstanding performance, rivaling with state-of-the-art control channel-driven RISs solutions.