Hybrid Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Enabled Over the Air Index Modulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel over-the-air index modulation scheme using a hybrid reconfigurable intelligent surface with active and passive elements, enhancing wireless communication performance for future 6G systems.

Contribution

The paper proposes a new hybrid RIS-based index modulation scheme and a modified version that increases IM bits, demonstrating improved BER performance through simulations.

Findings

Superior BER performance compared to benchmarks

Enhanced IM bit transmission capabilities

Effective use of hybrid RIS for over-the-air modulation

Abstract

Users' desire for enhanced performance drive the inevitable technological progress on vertical applications in wireless communication systems. To meet these demands, researchers vigorously investigate potential 6G and beyond technologies and solutions. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have risen in popularity and attracted the attention of academia as well as industry and seem to be a promising candidate for 6G technology. RISs are reflective metamaterials with many configurable elements consisting of pin diodes that have the ability to manipulate the impinging signals' properties, hence, enabling some sort of virtual control over the wireless channel. In this paper, we propose a novel over-the-air index modulation (IM) scheme through the use of a hybrid RIS with active and passive partitions to convey additional IM bits over-the-air. In addition we propose another modified scheme that allows the transmission for even more IM bits but at the expense of certain trade-offs. First, we present the system model for both of the proposed schemes. Furthermore, comprehensive computer simulation results are provided and discussed presenting the superior bit error rate (BER) performance and additional benefits of the proposed systems compared to similar benchmarks.