Integrated Sensing and Communication with Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces
Summary
Integrated sensing and communication with intelligent reflecting surfaces represents a convergence of radar and wireless‐communication technologies achieved by exploiting reconfigurable meta‐surfaces. These surfaces, composed of numerous passive or semi‐active elements, can dynamically adjust the phase, amplitude or polarisation of incident electromagnetic waves. By tailoring the propagation environment, such platforms enhance both the detection of targets and the transmission of data in shared spectral bands. The approach promises to overcome traditional line-of-sight limitations, mitigate multipath fading, and improve spectral efficiency through joint waveform design and beamforming. In practice, intelligent reflecting surfaces can be deployed on walls, unmanned aerial vehicles or even on mobile targets, enabling new degrees of freedom for manipulating signals in dual-function radar-communication systems. Applications range from vehicular networks and indoor localisation to next-generation wireless networks and autonomous navigation, highlighting the global significance of this rapidly evolving field.
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Integrated Sensing and Communication with Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in integrated sensing and communication with intelligent reflecting surfaces across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS): A planar array of reconfigurable elements that control incident electromagnetic waves to shape propagation paths.
Dual-Function Radar-Communication (DFRC): A system that performs sensing and data transmission concurrently using shared hardware and spectral resources.
Line-of-Sight (LoS): A direct propagation path between transmitter and receiver without significant obstruction.
Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS): A propagation path involving reflections or diffractions due to obstacles, typically causing signal degradation.
Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR): A metric comparing the power of the desired signal to the combined power of interference and background noise.
References
- Enhancing wireless sensing via a target-mounted intelligent reflecting surface. National Science Review (2023).
- RIS-Aided Radar for Target Detection: Clutter Region Analysis and Joint Active-Passive Design. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (2024).
- Multi-IRS-Aided Doppler-Tolerant Wideband DFRC System. IEEE Transactions on Communications (2023).
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