Circuit Characterization of IRS to Control Beamforming Design for Efficient Wireless Communication

Abstract

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) has emerged as a transforming solution to enrich wireless communications by efficiently reconfiguring the propagation environment. In this paper, a novel IRS circuit characterization model is proposed for practical beamforming design incorporating various electrical parameters of the meta-surface unit cell. Specifically, we have modelled the IRS control parameters, phase shift (PS) and reflection amplitude (RA) at the communication receiver, in addition to the circuit level parameter, variable effective capacitance C of IRS unit cell. We have obtained closed-form expressions of PS, RA and C in terms of transmission frequency of signal incident to IRS and various electrical parameters of IRS circuit, with a novel touch towards an accurate analytical model for a better beamforming design perspective. Numerical results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed characterization thereby providing key insights.