Fully Autonomous Reconfigurable Metasurfaces with Integrated Sensing and Communication

One of the most controversial issues in Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) is how to localize users. A potential solution is to integrate sensing and communication into the RIS platform to simultaneously detect a target and establish a communication link. By utilizing a shared spectrum, it is possible to optimize the channel with little to no mutual interference. To this end, a hybrid metasurface layout is proposed that supports beamforming while also enabling the sensing of incident signals from the user. This hybrid technology couples a small portion of the incident signal into a sensing layer. In the next step, a sensing scheme is introduced that leverages the inherent multiplexing of information within the metasurface's substrate to retrieve relevant information using a few sensing elements. The proposed metasurface can generate desired radiation patterns, and the addition of sensing capabilities has minimal impact on its primary functionality.