Experimental Performance of a 5G N78 Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface: From Controlled Measurements to Commercial Network Deployment

TL;DR

This paper evaluates a 5G N78 band reconfigurable intelligent surface through real-world indoor, outdoor, and commercial network tests, demonstrating coverage improvements and service restoration.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive real-world validation of a modular RIS in a commercial 5G network, moving beyond simulations.

Findings

Significant gains in RSRP and SINR with RIS deployment.

Restoration of 5G service in previously unreachable areas.

Successful outdoor long-range and commercial network tests.

Abstract

This paper presents a real-world experimental analysis of a modular reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) prototype designed to operate in the 5G N78 band. Unlike most RIS studies in the literature that focus on simulations or controlled setups, the proposed system is validated through three phases consisting of indoor measurements, outdoor long-range tests, and deployment in a live commercial 5G standalone network. The RIS is exploited to enhance coverage in a non-line-of-sight (NLoS) zone, identified through baseline drive tests. Results show promising gains in RSRP and SINR, while also restoring 5G service at user locations where access was previously not available. The results highlight the practical potential of RIS for coverage enhancement in operational 5G networks.