Internet of Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IoIRS)

TL;DR

The paper introduces IoIRS, a novel architecture that integrates Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces into network layers, transforming them from passive components into active, connected entities to enhance future wireless networks.

Contribution

It proposes the IoIRS architecture and a protocol suite to integrate IRS into higher network layers, addressing challenges of large-scale deployment.

Findings

Conceptual framework for IoIRS architecture

Preliminary protocol suite for integration

Potential applications in future wireless networks

Abstract

Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS) are anticipated to serve as a key cornerstone of future wireless networks, providing an unmatched capability to deterministically shape electromagnetic wave propagation. Despite this potential, most existing research still considers the IRS merely as a standalone physical-layer component, controlled by transmitters. However, as networks grow to encompass a massive number of these surfaces and a massive number of transmitters wishing to use them, this transmitter-centric design encounters substantial challenges. To overcome this challenge, we propose the Internet of IRS (IoIRS), an architecture that reconceives the IRS not just as a passive reflecting surface, but as a connected, hybrid entity functioning across both the physical layer and upper network layers. We present the conceptual framework and a preliminary protocol suite necessary to integrate these surfaces into the higher network layers. We conclude by examining how IoIRS architectures could be applied in practice, as their deployment will be essential for fully realizing the capabilities of future wireless networks.