In the past as well as present wireless communication systems, the wireless propagation environment is regarded as an uncontrollable black box that impairs the received signal quality, and its negative impacts are compensated for by relying on the design of various sophisticated transmission/reception schemes. However, the improvements through applying such schemes operating only at two endpoints (i.e., transmitter and receiver) are limited even after five generations of wireless systems. Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) or intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) have emerged as a new and promising technology that can configure the wireless environment in a favorable manner by properly tuning the phase shifts of a large number of quasi passive and low-cost reflecting elements, thus standing out as a promising candidate technology for the next/sixth-generation (6G) wireless system. However, to reap the performance benefits promised by RIS/IRS, efficient signal processing techniques are crucial, for a variety of purposes such as channel estimation, transmission design, radio localization, and so on. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent advances on RIS/IRS-aided wireless systems from the signal processing perspective.We also highlight promising research directions that are worthy of investigation in the future.

This letter theoretically compares the active reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided system with the passive RIS-aided system. For a fair comparison, we consider that these two systems have the same overall power budget that can be used at both the base station (BS) and the RIS. For active RIS, we first derive the optimal power splitting between the BS’s transmit signal power and RIS’s output signal power. We also analyze the impact of various system parameters on the optimal power splitting ratio. Then, we theoretically and numerically compare the performance between the active RIS and the passive RIS, which demonstrates that the active RIS would be superior if the power budget is not very small and the number of RIS elements is not very large.

This paper considers an uplink reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, where the phase shifts of the RIS are designed relying on statistical channel state information (CSI). Considering the complex environment, the general Rician channel model is adopted for both the users-RIS links and RIS-BS links. We first derive the closed-form approximate expressions for the achievable rate which holds for arbitrary numbers of base station (BS) antennas and RIS elements. Then, we utilize the derived expressions to provide some insights, including the asymptotic rate performance, the power scaling laws, and the impacts of various system parameters on the achievable rate. We also tackle the sum-rate maximization and the minimum user rate maximization problems by optimizing the phase shifts at the RIS based on genetic algorithm (GA). Finally, extensive simulations are provided to validate the benefits by integrating RIS into conventional massive MIMO systems. Our simulations also demonstrate the feasibility of deploying large-size but low-resolution RIS in massive MIMO systems.

This paper investigates the two-timescale transmission scheme for reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where the beamforming at the base station (BS) is adapted to the rapidly-changing instantaneous channel state information (CSI), while the nearly-passive beamforming at the RIS is adapted to the slowly-changing statistical CSI. Specifically, we first consider a system model with spatially independent Rician fading channels, which leads to tractable expressions and offers analytical insights on the power scaling laws and on the impact of various system parameters. Then, we analyze a more general system model with spatially correlated Rician fading channels and consider the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by any uncontrollable sources present in the considered environment. For both case studies, we apply the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimator to estimate the aggregated channel from the users to the BS, utilize the low-complexity maximal ratio combining (MRC) detector, and derive a closed-form expression for a lower bound of the achievable rate. Besides, an accelerated gradient ascent-based algorithm is proposed for solving the minimum user rate maximization problem. Numerical results show that, in the considered setup, the spatially independent model without EMI is sufficiently accurate when the inter-distance of the RIS elements is sufficiently large and the EMI is mild. In the presence of spatial correlation, we show that an RIS can better tailor the wireless environment. Furthermore, it is shown that deploying an RIS in a massive MIMO network brings significant gains when the RIS is deployed close to the cell-edge users. On the other hand, the gains obtained by the users distributed over a large area are shown to be modest.

This paper investigates the performance of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) systems with direct links, and the phase shifts of the RIS are designed based on the statistical channel state information (CSI). We first derive the closed-form expression of the uplink ergodic data rate. Then, based on the derived expression, we use the genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the sum data rate maximization problem. With low-complexity maximal-ratio combination (MRC) and low-overhead statistical CSI-based scheme, we validate that the RIS can bring significant performance gains to the traditional mMIMO systems.

Fluid antenna system (FAS), a novel advancement in reconfigurable antenna technologies, offers unprecedented shape and position flexibility. This innovative approach is emerging as an exciting and potentially transformative technology for wireless communication systems. FAS encompasses any software-controlled fluidic, conductive, or dielectric structure capable of dynamically altering an antenna’s shape and position to modify critical parameters such as gain, radiation pattern, operating frequency, and other key characteristics. Given its unique capabilities, FAS is highly anticipated to play a significant role in shaping the upcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks. This article presents the first comprehensive classification framework for FAS technologies, systematically analyzing cutting-edge developments and demonstrating significant performance improvements over traditional fixed-position antennas through detailed case studies. Specifically, this article explores these contributions by addressing four major questions: 1) Is FAS crucial to 6G? 2) How can FAS be characterized? 3) What are the applications of FAS? 4) What challenges and future research directions are associated with FAS? In particular, five promising research directions that highlight FAS’s potential are examined. Finally, we conclude by demonstrating the impressive performance of FAS, reinforcing its relevance and promise in future networks.