Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted Ambient Backscatter Communications -Experimental Assessment

R Fara (1) , D.-T Phan-Huy (2) , P Ratajczak (2) , A Ourir (3) , Marco Di Renzo (1, 4, 5) , J de Rosny (6)

1 Université Paris-Saclay
2 Orange Labs Networks
3 PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres
4 L2S - Laboratoire des signaux et systèmes
5 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
6 ESPCI Paris - Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris

Sixth generation (6G) mobile networks may include new passive technologies, such as ambient backscatter communication or the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, to avoid the emission of waves and the corresponding energy consumption. On the one hand, a reconfigurable intelligent surface improves the network performance by adding electronically controlled reflected paths in the radio propagation channel. On the other hand, in an ambient backscatter system, a device, named tag, communicates towards a reader by backscattering the waves of an ambient source (such as a TV tower). However, the tag's backscattered signal is weak and strongly interfered by the direct signal from the ambient source. In this paper, we propose a new reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted ambient backscatter system. The proposed surface allows to control the reflection of an incident wave coming from the exact source location towards the tag and reader locations (creating hot spots at their locations), thanks to passive reflected beams from a predefined codebook. A common phase-shift can also be applied to the beam. Thanks to these features, we demonstrate experimentally that the performance of ambient backscatter communications can be significantly improved.

Mots clés: Ambient backscattering; 6G; Internet of things; Reconfigurable intelligent surface; Metasurface

Domaines: Electronique

R Fara, D.-T Phan-Huy, P Ratajczak, A Ourir, Marco Di Renzo, et al.. Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted Ambient Backscatter Communications -Experimental Assessment. IEEE International Conference on Communications, Jun 2021, Montreal, Canada. ⟨10.1109/iccworkshops50388.2021.9473842⟩. ⟨hal-03358458⟩