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arXiv · 2603.01790

Control Plane for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Fabio Saggese·Victor Croisfelt·Kyriakos Stylianopoulos·George C. Alexandropoulos·Petar Popovski
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Abstract

Research on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) has predominantly focused on purely physical (PHY)-layer aspects, particularly, on how signals are dynamically shaped by a controllable wireless propagation environment. However, integrating RISs as system-level network elements requires the development of an RIS-compatible control plane. In this article, we explore design options for such a control plane across two key dimensions: i) the allocation of spectral resources for the control plane (in- or out-of-band), and ii) the rate selection for the data plane (multiplexing or diversity). While our analysis is necessarily simplified, it reveals the fundamental trade-offs inherent in these design choices, which are crucial for integrating RIS technology into future networks.

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Fabio Saggese, Victor Croisfelt, Kyriakos Stylianopoulos, George C. Alexandropoulos, Petar Popovski. 2026-03-02. Control Plane for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces. https://doi.org/10.1109/mcomstd.0001.2400028

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