The integration of non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) with terrestrial networks is a key enabler for achieving the ambitious performance goals of 6G. However, providing seamless connectivity to fast-moving aerial and space nodes is challenging due to intermittent connectivity and frequent handovers. This paper proposes a holographic massive MIMO architecture augmented with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) to address these challenges. The RIS elements are intelligently tuned to create environments by beamforming and scattering the signals from multiple BSs to the NTN receivers simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources. This technique exploits the angle separation of NTN nodes to eliminate inter-user interference through metasurface holography. We present the joint design of active massive MIMO precoding at the BSs and passive beamforming with RIS to maximize spectral efficiency. The proposed holographic MIMO-RIS architecture provides an energy and spectrally-efficient solution for 6G NTN connectivity.

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Holographic MIMO Communications with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for 6G Non-terrestrial Networks

  • Jie Wang,
  • Lei Liu,
  • Weiliang Xie,
  • Yang Li

摘要

The integration of non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) with terrestrial networks is a key enabler for achieving the ambitious performance goals of 6G. However, providing seamless connectivity to fast-moving aerial and space nodes is challenging due to intermittent connectivity and frequent handovers. This paper proposes a holographic massive MIMO architecture augmented with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) to address these challenges. The RIS elements are intelligently tuned to create environments by beamforming and scattering the signals from multiple BSs to the NTN receivers simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources. This technique exploits the angle separation of NTN nodes to eliminate inter-user interference through metasurface holography. We present the joint design of active massive MIMO precoding at the BSs and passive beamforming with RIS to maximize spectral efficiency. The proposed holographic MIMO-RIS architecture provides an energy and spectrally-efficient solution for 6G NTN connectivity.