Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Enhanced Satellite Networks: Deployment Strategies, Key Capabilities, Practical Solutions, and Future Directions
Ziyuan Zheng, Xiangyu Li, Shirui Zuo, Yu Wan, Bodong Shang, Wenpeng Jing, Qingqing Wu

TL;DR
This paper explores how reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) can enhance satellite networks by improving connectivity, interference management, and spectrum reuse, addressing key challenges in future 6G satellite communications.
Contribution
It introduces a deployment and operations-aware framework for RIS in satellite networks, detailing practical solutions and future research directions.
Findings
RIS enables virtual line-of-sight links to overcome blockage.
Angular selectivity of RIS improves spectrum reuse.
Practical operation involves advanced beam tracking and hardware considerations.
Abstract
Satellite networks promise wide-area 6G coverage but face two persistent barriers: blockage-induced service discontinuities and increasingly stringent spectrum coexistence across satellite layers and with terrestrial systems. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) act as low-power programmable apertures that redirect energy without the cost and power consumption of fully active arrays. We develop a deployment-first, operations-aware view of RIS-enabled satellite networking that treats RIS as both satellite/terminal antennas and inter-satellite or space-ground relays. We show that system-level gains are governed by two unifying mechanisms: connectivity restoration via virtual line-of-sight links that preserve connectivity under blockage and mobility, and angular selectivity that reshapes interference to enlarge spectrum reuse. We further discuss practical operation under high…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsAdvanced Wireless Communication Technologies · Satellite Communication Systems · IoT Networks and Protocols
