Active RIS-Assisted MIMO-OFDM System: Analyses and Prototype Measurements

TL;DR

This paper presents a prototype of an active RIS-assisted MIMO-OFDM system operating at 3.5 GHz, demonstrating that active RIS significantly enhances MIMO performance over passive RIS in 5G scenarios.

Contribution

The study develops and experimentally evaluates a 5G-compliant active RIS-assisted MIMO-OFDM prototype, highlighting its advantages over passive RIS.

Findings

Active RIS improves MIMO performance in 5G systems.

Experimental results show active RIS surpasses passive RIS.

Active RIS offers better performance considering complexity and energy use.

Abstract

In this study, we develop an active reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) prototype compliant with the 5G New Radio standard at 3.5~GHz. The experimental results clearly indicate that active RIS plays a vital role in enhancing MIMO performance, surpassing passive RIS. Furthermore, when considering factors such as complexity, energy consumption, and performance, the comparative evaluation between passive RIS and active RIS reinforces the critical role of active RIS in MIMO systems. These findings underscore the practical significance of active RIS in improving MIMO gain in 5G scenarios.