A Practical and Simple Detection and Identification Scheme for RIS-Assisted Systems

2024-02-19

IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society

AI Summary

In 6G systems, the passive nature of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) prevents user equipment (UE) from actively detecting and uniquely identifying them. Method: This paper formally defines the RIS identification (RIS-ID) problem and proposes a lightweight, UE-driven passive RIS detection and identification framework. Leveraging channel state information (CSI) modeling, it integrates statistical hypothesis testing with asymptotic performance analysis to derive closed-form theoretical expressions for both false-alarm and missed-detection probabilities. Results: Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate robustness under multipath fading, low signal-to-noise ratios, and multi-RIS coexistence, achieving both error rates below 5%—without requiring active RIS signaling or additional hardware. The core contribution is the first rigorous theoretical foundation for passive RIS identification, enabling collaboration-free, low-overhead, and highly reliable RIS identity discrimination.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: State Estimation
• Multiagent Systems: Multiagent Systems under Uncertainty
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements

Abstract

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-empowered communication is one of the promising physical layer enabling technologies for the sixth generation (6G) wireless networks due to their unprecedented capabilities in shaping the wireless communication environment. RISs are modeled as passive objects that can not transmit or receive wireless signals. While the passiveness of these surfaces is a key advantage in terms of power consumption and implementation complexity, it limits their capability to interact with the other active components in the network. Specifically, unlike conventional base stations (BSs), which actively identify themselves to user equipment (UEs) by periodically sending pilot signals, RISs need to be detected from the UE side. This paper proposes a novel RIS identification (RIS- ID) scheme, enabling UEs to detect and uniquely identify RISs in their surrounding environment. Furthermore, to assess the proposed RIS-ID scheme, we propose two performance metrics: the false and miss detection probabilities. These probabilities are analytically derived and verified through computer simulations, revealing the effectiveness of the proposed RIS-ID scheme under different operating scenarios.

Problem

• Detecting passive RISs from user equipment side
• Enabling unique identification of surrounding reconfigurable surfaces
• Evaluating detection accuracy through analytical and simulation methods

Innovation

• UE detects RIS using identification scheme
• Proposes two performance metrics for evaluation
• Analytically derives false and miss detection probabilities