Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Where Metamaterials Meet Tele-Communications

While society's ever-growing demand for wirelessly transmitted data will continue to drive adoption of higher communication frequencies, this will bring technical challenges. Higher frequency signals are more easily blocked, and typically diffract less around streetscape sized obstacles. As such, the introduction of 6G would require a substantially higher density of conventional infrastructure, increasing costs.

Metamaterials offer a solution. A periodic array of conductive patterns on a flat substrate can be used to reflect specific radiation frequencies, enabling telecommunications signals to be re-directed to avoid blackspots. Furthermore, continuously tuning the properties (such as capacitance) of these periodic conductive patterns enables the 2D metamaterial to operate as a phase array, directing the signal to where it is needed and reducing the need for amplification. Metamaterials used for these purposes are often termed 'reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS)'.

In this webinar Dr Matthew Dyson, a Principal Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, will discuss the need of RIS, different type of RIS and their manufacturing process.