A Wideband Amplifying and Filtering Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for Wireless Relay

Engineering ›› DOI: 10.1016/j.eng.2025.06.015

review-article

Lijie Wu ^a^,^#
, Qun Yan Zhou ^a^,^#
, Jun Yan Dai ^a^,^b^,^c^,^#^,^*
, Siran Wang ^a^,^d^,^#
, Junwei Zhang ^a
, Zhen Jie Qi ^a
, Hanqing Yang ^a
, Ruizhe Jiang ^a
, Zheng Xing Wang ^a
, Huidong Li ^a
, Zhen Zhang ^f
, Jiang Luo ^g
, Qiang Cheng ^a^,^b^,^c^,^*
, Tie Jun Cui ^a^,^b^,^e^,^*

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Abstract

Programmable metasurfaces have garnered significant attention due to their exceptional ability to manipulate electromagnetic (EM) waves in real time, propelling the emergence of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) as a transformative advancement in wireless communication for controlling signal propagation and coverage. However, conventional RISs often suffer from a limited operational range and spectral interference, hindering their practical deployment in wireless relay and communication systems. To overcome this limitation, we propose an amplifying and filtering RIS (AF-RIS) to enhance the in-band signal energy and filter the out-of-band signal of the incident EM waves, thereby achieving RIS array miniaturization and improved anti-interference capability. Furthermore, each AF-RIS element features 2-bit phase control, significantly improving the array’s beamforming performance. A meticulously designed 4 × 8 AF-RIS array is presented by integrating the power dividing and combining networks, which substantially reduces the number of amplifiers and filters, drastically decreasing the hardware costs and power consumption. The experimental results demonstrate the powerful capabilities of the AF-RIS in beam-steering, frequency selectivity, and signal amplification. Thus, the proposed AF-RIS offers significant potential for critical wireless relay applications by improving frequency selectivity, expanding signal coverage, and minimizing hardware size.

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Keywords

Reconfigurable intelligent surface / Programmable metasurface / Wireless relay / Signal filtering / Signal energy enhancement

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Lijie Wu, Qun Yan Zhou, Jun Yan Dai, Siran Wang, Junwei Zhang, Zhen Jie Qi, Hanqing Yang, Ruizhe Jiang, Zheng Xing Wang, Huidong Li, Zhen Zhang, Jiang Luo, Qiang Cheng, Tie Jun Cui. A Wideband Amplifying and Filtering Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for Wireless Relay. Engineering DOI:10.1016/j.eng.2025.06.015

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