A New Wireless Communication Paradigm through Software-controlled Metasurfaces

TL;DR

This paper introduces HyperSurface tiles, programmable metasurfaces that enable deterministic control of electromagnetic waves, allowing for re-engineering wireless environments to improve communication performance.

Contribution

It presents a novel class of programmable metasurfaces, HyperSurface tiles, enabling deterministic electromagnetic wave control for wireless environment optimization.

Findings

Simulation results show effective wave steering and absorption.

HyperSurface tiles can be deployed on various objects to re-engineer environments.

Potential for significant performance improvements in wireless communication.

Abstract

Electromagnetic waves undergo multiple uncontrollable alterations as they propagate within a wireless environment. Free space path loss, signal absorption, as well as reflections, refractions and diffractions caused by physical objects within the environment highly affect the performance of wireless communications. Currently, such effects are intractable to account for and are treated as probabilistic factors. The paper proposes a radically different approach, enabling deterministic, programmable control over the behavior of the wireless environments. The key-enabler is the so-called HyperSurface tile, a novel class of planar meta-materials which can interact with impinging electromagnetic waves in a controlled manner. The HyperSurface tiles can effectively re-engineer electromagnetic waves, including steering towards any desired direction, full absorption, polarization manipulation and more. Multiple tiles are employed to coat objects such as walls, furniture, overall, any objects in the indoor and outdoor environments. An external software service calculates and deploys the optimal interaction types per tile, to best fit the needs of communicating devices. Evaluation via simulations highlights the potential of the new concept.