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Millimeter-Wave RIS: Hardware Design and System-Level Considerations

Ruiqi Wang, Pinjun Zheng, Yiming Yang, Xiarui Su, Mohammad Vaseem, Anas Chaaban, Md. Jahangir Hossain, Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri, Atif Shamim

TL;DR

A hardware-centric overview of recent mm-Wave RIS developments, covering wideband realizations, high-resolution phase-quantized designs, fully printed low-cost implementations, optically transparent surfaces, RIS-on-chip solutions, and emerging three-dimensional architectures is presented.

Abstract

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces have emerged as a promising hardware platform for shaping wireless propagation environments at millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies and beyond. While many existing studies emphasize channel modeling and signal processing, practical RIS deployment is fundamentally governed by hardware design choices and their system-level implications. This paper presents a hardware-centric overview of recent mm-Wave RIS developments, covering wideband realizations, high-resolution phase-quantized designs, fully printed low-cost implementations, optically transparent surfaces, RIS-on-chip solutions, and emerging three-dimensional architectures. Key challenges including mutual coupling, calibration, multi-RIS interaction, and frequency-dependent phase control are discussed to bridge hardware realization with system-level optimization. This overview provides practical design insights and aims to guide future RIS research toward scalable, efficient, and practically deployable intelligent surface architectures.

Millimeter-Wave RIS: Hardware Design and System-Level Considerations

TL;DR

A hardware-centric overview of recent mm-Wave RIS developments, covering wideband realizations, high-resolution phase-quantized designs, fully printed low-cost implementations, optically transparent surfaces, RIS-on-chip solutions, and emerging three-dimensional architectures is presented.

Abstract

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces have emerged as a promising hardware platform for shaping wireless propagation environments at millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies and beyond. While many existing studies emphasize channel modeling and signal processing, practical RIS deployment is fundamentally governed by hardware design choices and their system-level implications. This paper presents a hardware-centric overview of recent mm-Wave RIS developments, covering wideband realizations, high-resolution phase-quantized designs, fully printed low-cost implementations, optically transparent surfaces, RIS-on-chip solutions, and emerging three-dimensional architectures. Key challenges including mutual coupling, calibration, multi-RIS interaction, and frequency-dependent phase control are discussed to bridge hardware realization with system-level optimization. This overview provides practical design insights and aims to guide future RIS research toward scalable, efficient, and practically deployable intelligent surface architectures.
Paper Structure (26 sections, 5 equations, 10 figures)

This paper contains 26 sections, 5 equations, 10 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. Motivation for mm-Wave RIS in 5G and 6G Communications
  3. RIS Hardware Design and System-level Challenges at mm-Wave Frequencies
  4. Objective and Organization
  5. The Role of RIS in mm-Wave Communication, Localization, and Sensing
  6. RIS-Aided Signal Transmission
  7. Applications of RIS in mm-Wave Wireless Systems
  8. Communication
  9. Localization
  10. Integrated Sensing and Communication
  11. mm-Wave RIS Hardware and Implementation
  12. Wideband RIS Designs
  13. Phase Quantization and Its Practical Effects
  14. Fully-Printed Low-Cost RIS
  15. Optically Transparent RIS
  16. ...and 11 more sections

Figures (10)

  • Figure 1: Schematic of the RIS-aided MIMO communication system.
  • Figure 2: The wideband mm-Wave RIS hardware design in Wang_ruiqi2024TAP. (a) Full-wave simulation model. (b) Fabricated prototype and measurement.
  • Figure 3: The 2-bit wideband mm-Wave RIS hardware design in Ruiqi2025RIS (a) Unit cell design. (b) Fabricated prototype and measurement.
  • Figure 4: The fully-printed mm-Wave RIS hardware prototype with control circuit in Yiming2025fullyprinted
  • Figure 5: The mm-Wave static optically transparent RIS prototype in Yiming2025Transparent
  • ...and 5 more figures