Enabling mmWave Communications with VCSEL-Based Light-Emitting Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

TL;DR

This paper introduces a VCSEL-based LeRIS system that enables precise user localization and efficient mmWave beamforming, advancing the development of scalable, programmable 6G wireless environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel LeRIS architecture using VCSELs for joint localization and beamforming, with a closed-form estimation method and demonstrated high accuracy and spectral efficiency.

Findings

Achieves millimeter-level localization accuracy.

Maintains high spectral efficiency in simulations.

Provides a scalable solution for 6G environments.

Abstract

This paper proposes a light-emitting reconfigurable intelligent surface (LeRIS) architecture that integrates vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) to jointly support user localization and mmWave communication. By leveraging the directional Gaussian beams and dual-mode diversity of VCSELs, we derive a closed-form method for estimating user position and orientation using only three VCSEL sources. These estimates are then used to configure LeRIS panels for directional mmWave beamforming, enabling optimized wave propagation in programmable wireless environments. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed system achieves millimeter-level localization accuracy and maintains high spectral efficiency. These findings establish VCSEL-integrated LeRIS as a scalable and multifunctional solution for future 6G programmable wireless environments.