Designing, Building, and Characterizing RF Switch-based Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper details the design, implementation, and empirical characterization of a low-cost, PCB-based RF switch reconfigurable intelligent surface capable of passive 3D beamforming, supported by extensive experimental validation and data sharing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, low-cost PCB-based RIS design with passive beamforming capabilities, thoroughly validated through experiments and accompanied by a comprehensive dataset.

Findings

Successful demonstration of passive 3D beamforming

Extensive empirical characterization data available

Cost analysis for reproducing the RIS design

Abstract

In this paper, we present our experience designing, prototyping, and empirically characterizing RF Switch-based Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS). Our RIS design comprises arrays of patch antennas, delay lines and programmable radio-frequency (RF) switches that enable passive 3D beamforming, i.e., without active RF components. We implement this design using PCB technology and low-cost electronic components, and thoroughly validate our prototype in a controlled environment with high spatial resolution codebooks. Finally, we make available a large dataset with a complete characterization of our RIS and present the costs associated with reproducing our design.