Two Birds with One Stone: Enhancing Communication and Sensing via Multi-Functional RIS

Ni W, Wang W, Zheng A, Wang P, You C, Eldar YC, Niyato D, Schober R (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

IEEE Wireless Communications IEEE

Book Volume: 32

Pages Range: 72-80

Journal Issue: 4

DOI: 10.1109/MWC.001.2400471

Abstract

In this article, we propose new network architectures that integrate multi-functional reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (MF-RISs) into 6G networks to enhance both communication and sensing capabilities. Firstly, we elaborate how to leverage MF-RISs for improving communication performance in different communication paradigms including unicast, multicast, and broadcast and for different multiple access schemes. Secondly, we emphasize the synergistic benefits of integrating MF-RISs with wireless sensing, enabling more accurate and efficient target detection in future mobile networks. Thirdly, we utilize MF-RISs to simultaneously enhance the sensing and communication performance of an integrated network, where we study the multi-objective optimization to achieve the performance trade-off between communication and sensing metrics. Additionally, the Pareto boundary is provided to demonstrate the performance conflicts under the given system constraints. Then, we present numerical results to show the significant performance improvements offered by MF-RISs compared to conventional RISs in the integrated network. Finally, we outline potential research directions for MF-RISs under the ambition of 6G.

Authors with CRIS profile

Robert Schober Lehrstuhl für Digitale Übertragung (IDC)

Involved external institutions

Tsinghua University CN China (CN) Purple Mountain Observatory / 紫金山天文台 CN China (CN) Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) / 北京邮电大学 CN China (CN) Northeast Electric Power University CN China (CN) Southern University of Science and Technology CN China (CN) Weizmann Institute of Science IL Israel (IL) Nanyang Technological University (NTU) SG Singapore (SG)

How to cite

APA:

Ni, W., Wang, W., Zheng, A., Wang, P., You, C., Eldar, Y.C.,... Schober, R. (2025). Two Birds with One Stone: Enhancing Communication and Sensing via Multi-Functional RIS. IEEE Wireless Communications, 32(4), 72-80. https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.001.2400471

MLA:

Ni, Wanli, et al. "Two Birds with One Stone: Enhancing Communication and Sensing via Multi-Functional RIS." IEEE Wireless Communications 32.4 (2025): 72-80.

BibTeX: Download