Physics-Based 3D End-to-End Modeling for Double-RIS Assisted Non-Stationary UAV-to-Ground Communication Channels

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) physics-based double reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) cooperatively assisted multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) stochastic channel model for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-to-ground communication scenarios. The double-RIS is distributed on the surface of buildings can assist the UAV transmitter to reflect its own signals to the ground receiver (GR), and simultaneously enhance the propagation by passive beamforming on the RISs. In the proposed channel model, we derive the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">path power gains</i> for different propagation links between the UAV and GR, thus enabling the proposed channel model to effectively characterize both large- and small-scale fading characteristics of realistic UAV-to-ground communication systems. Furthermore, we derive the critical propagation properties of the proposed channel model, including the spatial cross-correlation functions (CCFs), temporal auto-correlation functions (ACFs), and frequency correlation functions (FCFs), with respect to different RIS reflection phase configurations as well as different RIS orientation angles. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the propagation characteristics of the proposed double-RIS assisted UAV-to-ground channel model behave better than those of traditional channel models with single-RIS link or LoS link, thereby validating the necessity of introducing double-RIS into UAV-to-ground communication.