Radio Localization and Mapping with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

Understand

5G radio at millimeter wave (mmWave) and beyond 5G concepts at 0.1-1 THz can exploit angle and delay measurements for localization, by the virtue of increased bandwidth and large antenna arrays but are limited in terms of blockage caused by obstacles.

• Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) are seen as a transformative technology that can control the physical propagation environment in which they are embedded by passively reflecting EM waves in preferred directions.
• Whereas such RISs have been mainly intended for communication purposes, RISs can have great benefits in terms of performance, energy consumption, and cost for localization and mapping.
• These benefits as well as associated challenges are the main topics of this paper.