Integrated Localization, Mapping, and Communication through VCSEL-Based Light-emitting RIS (LeRIS)

2025-10-09

AI Summary

To address the low localization accuracy caused by diffuse emission in existing LED-based Light-emitting Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (LeRIS) and the large size and high power consumption of LiDAR-assisted solutions, this paper proposes a VCSEL-based LeRIS enabling tight integration of millimeter-wave communication, sub-millimeter user localization, and real-time obstacle sensing. Innovatively employing a five-element (minimum three-element under extreme conditions) VCSEL array with narrow Gaussian beams and multi-modal diversity (RSS + ToF), we derive a closed-form solution for joint estimation of user position and orientation. Dual-mode operation coupled with time-sequence analysis of reflected signals enables occlusion-resilient beam routing and centimeter-accurate obstacle detection. Simulation results demonstrate <1 mm localization error, 2.3× improvement in minimum user rate, and 41% gain in spectral efficiency—validating the proposed LeRIS’s compactness, energy efficiency, and scalability for programmable 6G wireless environments.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Learning to Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Location- and context-aware Web and WoT applications and services
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Multilingual and cross-lingual Web search
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements

Abstract

This paper presents a light-emitting reconfigurable intelligent surface (LeRIS) architecture that integrates vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) to jointly support user localization, obstacle-aware mapping, and millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication in programmable wireless environments (PWEs). Unlike prior light-emitting diode (LED)-based LeRIS designs with diffuse emission or LiDAR-assisted schemes requiring bulky sensing modules, the proposed VCSEL-based approach exploits narrow Gaussian beams and multimode diversity to enable compact, low-power, and analytically tractable integration. We derive closed-form expressions to jointly recover user position and orientation from received signal strength using only five VCSELs, and reduce this requirement to three under specific geometric conditions by leveraging dual-mode operation. In parallel, we introduce a VCSEL-based mapping method that uses reflected signal time-of-arrival measurements to detect obstructions and guide blockage-resilient RIS beam routing. Simulation results demonstrate millimeter-level localization accuracy, robust obstacle detection, high spectral efficiency, and substantial gains in minimum user rate. These findings establish VCSEL-based LeRIS as a scalable and practically integrable enabler for resilient 6G wireless systems with multi-functional PWEs.

Problem

• Integrates localization, mapping, and communication using VCSEL-based LeRIS
• Enables compact user positioning and orientation recovery via VCSELs
• Provides obstacle detection and resilient beam routing for 6G systems

Innovation

• VCSEL-based LeRIS integrates localization, mapping, and communication
• Narrow Gaussian beams enable compact, low-power multifunctional integration
• Closed-form expressions recover user position using minimal VCSELs