Work

Beyond-Diagonal RIS Prototype and Performance Evaluation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We present the first experimental prototype of a reflective beyond-diagonal reconfigurable intelligent surface (BD-RIS), i.e., an RIS with reconfigurable inter-element connections. Our BD-RIS consists of an antenna array whose ports are terminated by a tunable load network. The latter can terminate each antenna port with three distinct individual loads or connect it to an adjacent antenna port. Extensive performance evaluations in a rich-scattering environment validate that inter-element connections are beneficial. Moreover, we observe that our tunable load network’s mentioned hardware constraints significantly influence, first, the achievable performance, second, the benefits of having inter-element connections, and, third, the importance of mutual-coupling awareness during optimization.

Source: IEEE Wireless Communications Letters

DOI: 10.1109/lwc.2025.3613968

Authors: Jean Tapie, Matteo Nerini, Bruno Clerckx, Philipp del Hougne

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique, Université de Rennes, Imperial College London

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Wireless Communication Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, European Regional Development Fund