arXiv subjects

George C. Alexandropoulos

Publications and source records attributed to George C. Alexandropoulos.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Joint User Localization and Location Calibration of A Hybrid Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface

The recent research in the emerging technology of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) has identified its high potential for localization and sensing. However, to accurately localize a user placed in the area of influence of an RIS, the RIS location needs to be known a priori and its phase profile is required to be optimized for localization. In this paper, we study the problem of the joint localization of a hybrid RIS (HRIS) and a user, considering that the former is equipped with a single reception radio-frequency (RF) chain enabling simultaneous tunable reflections and sensing via power splitting. Focusing on the downlink of a multi-antenna base station, we present a multi-stage approach for the estimation of the HRIS position and orientation as well as the user position. Our simulation results, including comparisons with the Cramér-Rao lower bounds, demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed localization approach, while showcasing that there exists an optimal HRIS power splitting ratio for the desired multi-parameter estimation problem.

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arXiv2022

Combining Relaying and Reflective Surfaces: Power Consumption and Energy Efficiency Analysis

Hybrid relaying networks (HRNs) combining both a relay and an intelligent reflective surface (IRS) can lead to enhanced rate performance compared to non-hybrid relaying schemes, where only either an IRS or a relay is utilized. However, utilizing both the relay and the IRS simultaneously results in higher power consumption for the HRNs compared to their counterpart. In this work, we study the required transmit power levels and the energy efficiency (EE) of HRNs utilizing both a half-duplex decode-and-forward (HD-DF) relay and an IRS, and compare their performance with non-hybrid relaying schemes. The impact of the required channel estimation overheads is considered when the reflective beamforming design (RBD) at the IRS is carried out under both instantaneous and statistical channel state information models. Also, the investigation is performed for both slow- and fast-changing environments. In terms of the transmit power requirements, our results show that HRNs can lead to higher power savings if the number of reflective elements at the IRS is not very large. However, non-hybrid relaying schemes are shown to be more energy-efficient, unless the targeted rate is high and the IRS is distant from both transmitter and receiver but within a close proximity to the relay.

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arXiv2022

Reconfigurable Intelligent Computational Surfaces: When Wave Propagation Control Meets Computing

The envisioned sixth-generation (6G) of wireless networks will involve an intelligent integration of communications and computing, thereby meeting the urgent demands of diverse applications. To realize the concept of the smart radio environment, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are a promising technology for offering programmable propagation of impinging electromagnetic signals via external control. However, the purely reflective nature of conventional RISs induces significant challenges in supporting computation-based applications, e.g., wave-based calculation and signal processing. To fulfil future communication and computing requirements, new materials are needed to complement the existing technologies of metasurfaces, enabling further diversification of electronics and their applications. In this event, we introduce the concept of reconfigurable intelligent computational surface (RICS), which is composed of two reconfigurable multifunctional layers: the `reconfigurable beamforming layer' which is responsible for tunable signal reflection, absorption, and refraction, and the `intelligence computation layer' that concentrates on metamaterials-based computing. By exploring the recent trends on computational metamaterials, RICSs have the potential to make joint communication and computation a reality. We further demonstrate two typical applications of RICSs for performing wireless spectrum sensing and secrecy signal processing. Future research challenges arising from the design and operation of RICSs are finally highlighted.

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arXiv2022

Reconfiguring Wireless Environment via Intelligent Surfaces for 6G: Reflection, Modulation, and Security

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been recognized as an essential enabling technique for the sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication network. Specifically, an RIS is comprised of a large number of small and low-cost reflecting elements whose parameters are dynamically adjustable with a programmable controller. Each of these elements can effectively reflect a phase-shifted version of the incident electromagnetic wave. By adjusting the wave phases in real time, the propagation environment of the reflected signals can be dynamically reconfigured to enhance communication reliability, boost transmission rate, expand cellular coverage, and strengthen communication security. In this paper, we provide an overview on RIS-assisted wireless communications. Specifically, we elaborate on the state-of-the-art enabling techniques of RISs as well as their corresponding substantial benefits from the perspectives of RIS reflection and RIS modulation. With these benefits, we envision the integration of RIS into emerging applications for 6G. In addition, communication security is of unprecedented importance in the 6G network with ubiquitous wireless services in multifarious verticals and areas. We highlight potential contributions of RIS to physical-layer security in terms of secrecy rate and secrecy outage probability, exemplified by a typical case study from both theoretical and numerical aspects. Finally, we discuss challenges and opportunities on the deployment of RISs in practice to motivate future research.

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arXiv2022

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces and Capacity Optimization: A Large System Analysis

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs), comprising large numbers of low-cost and almost passive metamaterials with tunable reflection properties, have been recently proposed as an enabling technology for programmable wireless propagation environments. In this paper, we present asymptotic closed-form expressions for the mean and variance of the mutual information metric for a multi-antenna transmitter-receiver pair in the presence of multiple RISs, using methods from statistical physics. While nominally valid in the large system limit, we show that the derived Gaussian approximation for the mutual information can be quite accurate, even for modest-sized antenna arrays and metasurfaces. The above results are particularly useful when fast-fading conditions are present, which renders instantaneous channel estimation extremely challenging. We find that, when the channel close to an RIS is correlated, for instance due to small angle spread, which is reasonable for wireless systems with increasing carrier frequencies, the communication link benefits significantly from statistical RIS phase optimization, resulting in gains that are surprisingly higher than the nearly uncorrelated case. Using our novel asymptotic properties of the correlation matrices of the impinging and outgoing signals at the RISs, we can optimize the metasurfaces without brute-force numerical optimization. Furthermore, when the desired reflection from any of the RISs departs significantly from geometrical optics, the metasurfaces can be optimized to provide robust communication links, without significant need for their optimal placement.

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arXiv2022

Energy Efficiency Maximization of Massive MIMO Communications With Dynamic Metasurface Antennas

Future wireless communications are largely inclined to deploy massive numbers of antennas at the base stations (BSs) by leveraging cost- and energy-efficient as well as environmentally friendly antenna arrays. The emerging technology of dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs) is promising to realize such massive antenna arrays with reduced physical size, hardware cost, and power consumption. The goal of this paper is the optimization of the energy efficiency (EE) performance of DMA-assisted massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications. Focusing on the uplink, we propose an algorithmic framework for designing the transmit precoding of each multi-antenna user and the DMA tuning strategy at the BS to maximize the EE performance, considering the availability of either instantaneous or statistical channel state information (CSI). Specifically, the proposed framework is shaped around Dinkelbach's transform, alternating optimization, and deterministic equivalent methods. In addition, we obtain a closed-form solution to the optimal transmit signal directions for the statistical CSI case, which simplifies the corresponding transmission design for the multiple-antenna case. Our numerical results verify the good convergence behavior of the proposed algorithms, and showcase the considerable EE performance gains of the DMA-assisted massive MIMO transmissions over the baseline schemes.

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arXiv2022

Distributed Sum-Rate Maximization of Cellular Communications with Multiple Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

The technology of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) has lately attracted considerable interest from both academia and industry as a low-cost solution for coverage extension and signal propagation control. In this paper, we study the downlink of a multi-cell wideband communication system comprising single-antenna Base Stations (BSs) and their associated single-antenna users, as well as multiple passive RISs. We assume that each BS controls a separate RIS and performs Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmissions. Differently from various previous works where the RIS unit elements are considered as frequency-flat phase shifters, we model them as Lorentzian resonators and present a joint design of the BSs' power allocation, as well as the phase profiles of the multiple RISs, targeting the sum-rate maximization of the multi-cell system. We formulate a challenging distributed nonconvex optimization problem, which is solved via successive concave approximation. The distributed implementation of the proposed design is discussed, and the presented simulation results showcase the interplay of the various system parameters on the sum rate, verifying the performance boosting role of RISs.

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arXiv2022

Simultaneous Indoor and Outdoor 3D Localization with STAR-RIS-Assisted Millimeter Wave Systems

Simultaneously transmitting (refracting) and reflecting reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (STAR-RISs) have been recently identified to improve the spectrum/energy efficiency and extend the communication range. However, their potential for enhanced concurrent indoor and outdoor localization has not yet been explored. In this paper, we study the fundamental limits, i.e., the Cramér Rao lower bounds (CRLBs) via Fisher information analyses, on the three-dimensional (3D) localization performance with a STAR-RIS at millimeter wave frequencies. The effect of the power splitting between refraction and reflection at the STAR-RIS as well as the power allocation between the two mobile stations (MSs) are investigated. By maximizing the principal angle between the two subspaces corresponding to the STAR-RIS reflection and refraction matrices, we are able to find the optimal solutions for these simultaneous operations. We verify that high-accuracy 3D localization can be achieved for both indoor and outdoor MSs when the system parameters are well optimized.

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arXiv2022

Joint Channel Estimation and Signal Recovery for RIS-Empowered Multi-User Communications

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have been recently considered as a promising candidate for energy-efficient solutions in future wireless networks. Their dynamic and lowpower configuration enables coverage extension, massive connectivity, and low-latency communications. Due to a large number of unknown variables referring to the RIS unit elements and the transmitted signals, channel estimation and signal recovery in RIS-based systems are the ones of the most critical technical challenges. To address this problem, we focus on the RIS-assisted wireless communication system and present two joint channel estimation and signal recovery schemes based on message passing algorithms in this paper. Specifically, the proposed bidirectional scheme applies the Taylor series expansion and Gaussian approximation to simplify the sum-product procedure in the formulated problem. In addition, the inner iteration that adopts two variants of approximate message passing algorithms is incorporated to ensure robustness and convergence. Two ambiguities removal methods are also discussed in this paper. Our simulation results show that the proposed schemes show the superiority over the state-of-art benchmark method. We also provide insights on the impact of different RIS parameter settings on the proposed schemes.

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arXiv2022

Multi-User Holographic MIMO Surfaces: Channel Modeling and Spectral Efficiency Analysis

The multi-user Holographic Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output Surface (MU-HMIMOS) paradigm, which is capable of realizing large continuous apertures with minimal power consumption, has been recently considered as an energyefficient solution for future wireless networks, offering increased flexibility in impacting electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation according to the desired communication, localization, and sensing objectives. The tractable channel modeling in MU-HMIMOS wireless systems is one of the most critical research challenges, mainly due to the coupling effect induced by the excessively large number of closely spaced patch antennas. In this paper, we focus on this challenge for the downlink of multi-user MIMO communications and extend an EM-compliant channel model to multiuser case, which is expressed in the wavenumber domain using the Fourier plane wave approximation. Based on the presented channel model, we investigate the spectral efficiency of maximumratio transmission and Zero-Forcing (ZF) precoding schemes. We also introduce a novel hardware efficient ZF precoder, leveraging Neumann series (NS) expansion to replace the required matrix inversion operation, which is very hard to be computed in the conventional way due to the extremely large number of patch antennas in the envisioned MU-HMIMOS communication systems. In comparison with the conventional independent and identical Rayleigh fading channels that ignore antenna coupling effects, the proposed EM-compliant channel model captures the mutual couplings induced by the very small antenna spacing. Our extensive performance evaluation results demonstrate that our theoretical performance expressions approximate sufficiently well ...

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arXiv2022

Channel Estimation and Multipath Diversity Reception for RIS-Empowered Broadband Wireless Systems Based on Cyclic-Prefixed Single-Carrier Transmission

In this paper, a cyclic-prefixed single-carrier (CPSC) transmission scheme with phase shift keying (PSK) signaling is presented for broadband wireless communications systems empowered by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). In the proposed CPSC-RIS, the RIS is configured according to the transmitted PSK symbols such that different cyclically delayed versions of the incident signal are created by the RIS to achieve multipath diversity. A practical and efficient channel estimator is developed for CPSC-RIS and the mean square error of the channel estimation is expressed in closed-form. We analyze the bit error rate (BER) performance of CPSC-RIS over frequency-selective Nakagami-$m$ fading channels. An upper bound on the BER is derived by assuming the maximum-likelihood detection. Furthermore, by resorting to the concept of index modulation (IM), we propose an extension of CPSC-RIS, termed CPSC-RIS-IM, which enhances the spectral efficiency. In addition to conventional constellation information of PSK symbols, CPSC-RIS-IM uses the full permutations of cyclic delays caused by the RIS to carry information. A sub-optimal receiver is designed for CPSC-RIS-IM to aim at low computational complexity. Our simulation results in terms of BER corroborate the performance analysis and the superiority of CPSC-RIS(-IM) over the conventional CPSC without an RIS and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with an RIS.

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arXiv2022

Channel Estimation for RIS-Empowered Multi-User MISO Wireless Communications

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) have been recently considered as an energy-efficient solution for future wireless networks due to their fast and low-power configuration, which has increased potential in enabling massive connectivity and low-latency communications. Accurate and low-overhead channel estimation in RIS-based systems is one of the most critical challenges due to the usually large number of RIS unit elements and their distinctive hardware constraints. In this paper, we focus on the uplink of a RIS-empowered multi-user Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) uplink communication systems and propose a channel estimation framework based on the parallel factor decomposition to unfold the resulting cascaded channel model. We present two iterative estimation algorithms for the channels between the base station and RIS, as well as the channels between RIS and users. One is based on alternating least squares (ALS), while the other uses vector approximate message passing to iteratively reconstruct two unknown channels from the estimated vectors. To theoretically assess the performance of the ALS-based algorithm, we derived its estimation Cramér-Rao Bound (CRB). We also discuss the downlink achievable sum rate computation with estimated channels and different precoding schemes for the base station. Our extensive simulation results show that our algorithms outperform benchmark schemes and that the ALS technique achieves the CRB. It is also demonstrated that the sum rate using the estimated channels always reach that of perfect channels under various settings, thus, verifying the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed estimation algorithms.

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arXiv2022

Multi-hop RIS-Empowered Terahertz Communications: A DRL-based Hybrid Beamforming Design

Wireless communication in the TeraHertz band (0.1--10 THz) is envisioned as one of the key enabling technologies for the future sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems scaled up beyond massive multiple input multiple output (Massive-MIMO) technology. However, very high propagation attenuations and molecular absorptions of THz frequencies often limit the signal transmission distance and coverage range. Benefited from the recent breakthrough on the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) for realizing smart radio propagation environment, we propose a novel hybrid beamforming scheme for the multi-hop RIS-assisted communication networks to improve the coverage range at THz-band frequencies. Particularly, multiple passive and controllable RISs are deployed to assist the transmissions between the base station (BS) and multiple single-antenna users. We investigate the joint design of digital beamforming matrix at the BS and analog beamforming matrices at the RISs, by leveraging the recent advances in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to combat the propagation loss. To improve the convergence of the proposed DRL-based algorithm, two algorithms are then designed to initialize the digital beamforming and the analog beamforming matrices utilizing the alternating optimization technique. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme is able to improve 50\% more coverage range of THz communications compared with the benchmarks. Furthermore, it is also shown that our proposed DRL-based method is a state-of-the-art method to solve the NP-hard beamforming problem, especially when the signals at RIS-assisted THz communication networks experience multiple hops.

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arXiv2022

Time Reversal for 6G Spatiotemporal Focusing: Recent Experiments, Opportunities, and Challenges

Late visions and trends for the future sixth Generation (6G) of wireless communications advocate, among other technologies, towards the deployment of network nodes with extreme numbers of antennas and up to terahertz frequencies, as means to enable various immersive applications. However, these technologies impose several challenges in the design of radio-frequency front-ends and beamforming architectures, as well as of ultra-wideband waveforms and computationally efficient transceiver signal processing. In this article, we revisit the Time Reversal (TR) technique, which was initially experimented in acoustics, in the context of large-bandwidth 6G wireless communications, capitalizing on its high resolution spatiotemporal focusing realized with low complexity transceivers. We first overview representative state-of-the-art in TR-based wireless communications, identifying the key competencies and requirements of TR for efficient operation. Recent and novel experimental setups and results for the spatiotemporal focusing capability of TR at the carrier frequencies $2.5$, $36$, and $273$ GHz are then presented, demonstrating in quantitative ways the technique's effectiveness in these very different frequency bands, as well as the roles of the available bandwidth and the number of transmit antennas. We also showcase the TR potential for realizing low complexity multi-user communications. The opportunities arising from TR-based wireless communications as well as the challenges for finding their place in 6G networks, also in conjunction with other complementary candidate technologies, are highlighted.

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arXiv2022

A Hardware Architecture for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces with Minimal Active Elements for Explicit Channel Estimation

Intelligent surfaces comprising of cost effective, nearly passive, and reconfigurable unit elements are lately gaining increasing interest due to their potential in enabling fully programmable wireless environments. They are envisioned to offer environmental intelligence for diverse communication objectives, when coated on various objects of the deployment area of interest. To achieve this overarching goal, the channels where the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) are involved need to be in principle estimated. However, this is a challenging task with the currently available hardware RIS architectures requiring lengthy training periods among the network nodes utilizing RIS-assisted wireless communication. In this paper, we present a novel RIS architecture comprising of any number of passive reflecting elements, a simple controller for their adjustable configuration, and a single Radio Frequency (RF) chain for baseband measurements. Capitalizing on this architecture and assuming sparse wireless channels in the beamspace domain, we present an alternating optimization approach for explicit estimation of the channel gains at the RIS elements attached to the single RF chain. Representative simulation results demonstrate the channel estimation accuracy and achievable end-to-end performance for various training lengths and numbers of reflecting unit elements.

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arXiv2022

Full Duplex Massive MIMO Architectures: Recent Advances, Applications, and Future Directions

The increasingly demanding objectives for next generation wireless communications have spurred recent research activities on multi-antenna transceiver hardware architectures and relevant intelligent communication schemes. Among them belong the Full Duplex (FD) Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) architectures, which offer the potential for simultaneous uplink and downlink operations in the entire frequency band. However, as the number of antenna elements increases, the interference signal leaking from the transmitter of the FD radio to its receiver becomes more severe. In this article, we present a unified FD massive MIMO architecture comprising analog and digital transmit and receive BeamForming (BF), as well as analog and digital SI cancellation, which can be jointly optimized for various performance objectives and complexity requirements. Performance evaluation results for applications of the proposed architecture to fully digital and hybrid analog and digital BF operations using recent algorithmic designs, as well as simultaneous communication of data and control signals are presented. It is shown that the proposed architecture, for both small and large numbers of antennas, enables improved spectral efficiency FD communications with fewer analog cancellation elements compared to various benchmark schemes. The article is concluded with a list of open challenges and research directions for future FD massive MIMO communication systems and their promising applications.

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arXiv2022

Simultaneous Multi-User MIMO Communications and Multi-Target Tracking with Full Duplex Radios

In this paper, we present an Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) system enabled by in-band Full Duplex (FD) radios, where a massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) base station equipped with hybrid Analog and Digital (A/D) beamformers is communicating with multiple DownLink (DL) users, and simultaneously estimates via the same signaling waveforms the Direction of Arrival (DoA) as well as the range of radar targets randomly distributed within its coverage area. Capitalizing on a recent reduced-complexity FD hybrid A/D beamforming architecture, we devise a joint radar target tracking and DL data transmission protocol. An optimization framework for the joint design of the massive A/D beamformers and the Self-Interference (SI) cancellation unit, with the dual objective of maximizing the radar tracking accuracy and DL communication performance, is presented. Our simulation results at millimeter wave frequencies using 5G NR wideband waveforms, showcase the accuracy of the radar target tracking performance of the proposed system, which simultaneously offers increased sum rate compared with benchmark schemes.

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arXiv2022

Pervasive Machine Learning for Smart Radio Environments Enabled by Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

The emerging technology of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) is provisioned as an enabler of smart wireless environments, offering a highly scalable, low-cost, hardware-efficient, and almost energy-neutral solution for dynamic control of the propagation of electromagnetic signals over the wireless medium, ultimately providing increased environmental intelligence for diverse operation objectives. One of the major challenges with the envisioned dense deployment of RISs in such reconfigurable radio environments is the efficient configuration of multiple metasurfaces with limited, or even the absence of, computing hardware. In this paper, we consider multi-user and multi-RIS-empowered wireless systems, and present a thorough survey of the online machine learning approaches for the orchestration of their various tunable components. Focusing on the sum-rate maximization as a representative design objective, we present a comprehensive problem formulation based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). We detail the correspondences among the parameters of the wireless system and the DRL terminology, and devise generic algorithmic steps for the artificial neural network training and deployment, while discussing their implementation details. Further practical considerations for multi-RIS-empowered wireless communications in the sixth Generation (6G) era are presented along with some key open research challenges. Differently from the DRL-based status quo, we leverage the independence between the configuration of the system design parameters and the future states of the wireless environment, and present efficient multi-armed bandits approaches, whose resulting sum-rate performances are numerically shown to outperform random configurations, while being sufficiently close to the conventional Deep Q-Network (DQN) algorithm, but with lower implementation complexity.

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