Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) offer the potential to customize the radio propagation environment for wireless networks, and will be a key element for 6G communications. However, due to the unique constraints in these systems, the optimization problems associated to RIS configuration are challenging to solve. This paper illustrates a new approach to the RIS configuration problem, based on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning (DL) algorithms. Concretely, a custom convolutional neural network (CNN) intended for edge computing is presented, and implementations on different representative edge devices are compared, including the use of commercial AI-oriented devices and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform. This FPGA option provides the best performance, with $\times 20$ performance increase over the closest FP32, GPU-accelerated option, and almost $\times 3$ performance advantage when compared with the INT8-quantized, TPU-accelerated implementation. More noticeably, this is achieved even when high-level synthesis (HLS) tools are used and no custom accelerators are developed. At the same time, the inherent reconfigurability of FPGAs opens a new field for their use as enabler hardware in RIS applications.

This document presents the design and manufacture of a reflectarray (RA) antenna for the Ku-band that is based on a fully-metallic 3D architecture. The reflectarray unit cell is formed by a square-shaped waveguide section ending in a short circuit, which is the reflectarray back ground plane. Each cell has the ability of configuring the phase of its own reflected field by means of resonators perforated on the walls of the cell waveguide section. The resonator-based waveguide cell introduces the 3D character to the design. The geometry of the resonators and the size variation introduces the phase behavior of each cell, thus, conforming the radiation pattern of the reflectarray. This design explores the potential of phase value truncation (six states and two states) and demonstrates that proper pattern results can be obtained with this phase truncation.

This work employs a new approach to analyze coupled-resonator circuits to design and manufacture a fully metallic dual polarization frequency selective surface (FSS). The proposed filtering structure is composed of a series of unit cells with resonators fundamentally coupled along the z -direction and then repeated periodically in the xy -plane. The fully metallic cascaded unit cell is rigorously analyzed within an infinite periodic environment as a coupled-resonator electromagnetic (EM) circuit. The convenient design of the EM resonators makes it possible to push the evanescent EM field through the metallic structure in the desired frequency band for both polarizations. An FSS prototype is manufactured and measured, and good agreement is found between the simulation results and the final prototype.

This paper presents a metal-only reflectarray based on a 3D unit cell with dual-band capability. The 3D unit cell is a square waveguide whose vertical walls include resonator elements with independent frequency performance. Different resonator geometries are analyzed to obtain a reflected phase variation in the target frequency band and to be feasible for 3-D manufacturing. $C$-shaped, triangle-shaped, and circle-shaped resonators are selected to obtain the required phase shift in reflection. A reflectarray (RA) prototype is designed, including pairs of resonators where the $C$-shaped resonator controls the low-frequency band, and the triangle resonators do so for the high-frequency band. The main reflected beam directions for each frequency band are different to show the independent phase tuning of the resonators. The prototype is manufactured using stereolithography (SLA) with a subsequent silver coating. Measured results show realized gains of 21.2 dBi in the 18 GHz band and 23.63 dBi in the 26.75 GHz band, with a good agreement with the simulated results.

This work presents the complete design process of a 3D fully-metallic reflectarray. The structure is composed of two unit cells with resonators in z direction that are phase-shifted 180° and distributed in the x-y direction. Here will be shown how those unit cells have been designed and how we determine their distribution. Furthermore, a tolerance analysis is carried out with the aim of obtaining a prototype that is robust to manufacturing imperfections. Lastly, that protoype is measured to verify the results.

This document presents the design and manufacture of a reflectarray (RA) antenna for the Ku-band, based on a fully-metallic 3D architecture. The reflectarray unit cell is formed by a square-shaped waveguide section ended in a short circuit, that is the reflectarray back ground plane. Each cell has the ability of configuring the phase of its own reflected field by means of resonators perforated on the walls of the cell waveguide section. The resonator-based waveguide cell introduces the 3D character to the design. The geometry of the resonators and its size variation introduces the phase behaviour of each cell, conforming the radiation pattern of the reflectarray. This design explores the potential of phase value truncation (6 states and 2 states), and demonstrates that proper pattern results can be obtained with this phase truncation.