A Vision to Smart Radio Environment: Surface Wave Communication Superhighways

TL;DR

This paper envisions a future smart radio environment utilizing surface wave propagation on programmable metasurfaces to create energy-efficient, interference-free data highways with localized high-speed communication capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of surface wave communication superhighways on smart surfaces, highlighting their potential for ultra-high energy efficiency and interference management.

Findings

Surface wave propagation offers lower pathloss than free space.

Smart surfaces enable localized, high-speed data access.

Fluidic waveguiding architecture allows dynamic data highway creation.

Abstract

Complementary to traditional approaches that focus on transceiver design for bringing the best out of unstable, lossy fading channels, one radical development in wireless communications that has recently emerged is to pursue a smart radio environment by using software-defined materials or programmable metasurfaces for establishing favourable propagation conditions. This article portraits a vision of communication superhighways enabled by surface wave (SW) propagation on "smart surfaces" for future smart radio environments. The concept differs from the mainstream efforts of using passive elements on a large surface for bouncing off radio waves intelligently towards intended user terminals. In this vision, energy efficiency will be ultra-high, due to much less pathloss compared to free space propagation, and the fact that SW is inherently confined to the smart surface not only greatly simplifies the task of interference management, but also makes possible exceptionally localized high-speed interference-free data access. We shall outline the opportunities and associated challenges arisen from the SW paradigm. We shall also attempt to shed light on several key enabling technologies that make this realizable. One important technology which will be discussed is a software-controlled fluidic waveguiding architecture that permits dynamic creation of high-throughput data highways.