Optimization of Beyond Diagonal RIS: A Universal Framework Applicable to Arbitrary Architectures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a universal, architecture-independent optimization framework for beyond diagonal reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (BD-RISs), enhancing multiuser MISO system performance with efficient algorithms and broad applicability.

Contribution

It develops a novel, universal optimization framework for arbitrary BD-RIS architectures, enabling improved system performance and computational efficiency.

Findings

The proposed algorithms outperform existing methods in sum-rate maximization.

The framework effectively balances performance and computational complexity.

It extends to general utility functions and MU-MIMO systems.

Abstract

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are envisioned as a promising technology for future wireless communication systems due to their ability to control the propagation environment in a hardware- and energy-efficient way. Recently, the concept of RISs has been extended to beyond diagonal RISs (BD-RISs), which unlock the full potential of RISs thanks to the presence of tunable interconnections between RIS elements. While various algorithms have been proposed for specific BD-RIS architectures, a universal optimization framework applicable to arbitrary architectures is still lacking. In this paper, we bridge this research gap by proposing an architecture-independent framework for BD-RIS optimization, with the main focus on sum-rate maximization and transmit power minimization in multiuser multi-input single-output (MU-MISO) systems. Specifically, we first incorporate BD-RIS architectures into the models by connecting the scattering matrix with the admittance matrix and introducing appropriate constraints to the admittance matrix. The formulated problems are then solved by our custom-designed partially proximal alternating direction method of multipliers (pp-ADMM) algorithms. The pp-ADMM algorithms are computationally efficient, with each subproblem either admitting a closed-form solution or being easily solvable. We further explore the extension of the proposed framework to general utility functions and multiuser multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) systems. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approaches achieve a better trade-off between performance and computational efficiency compared to existing methods. We also compare the performance of various BD-RIS architectures in MU-MISO systems using the proposed approach, which has not been explored before due to the lack of an architecture-independent framework.