Downlink Multiuser Communications Relying on Flexible Intelligent Metasurfaces
Open accessAbstract
A flexible intelligent metasurface (FIM) is composed of an array of low-cost radiating elements, each of which can independently radiate electromagnetic signals and flexibly adjust its position through a 3D surface-morphing process. In our system, an FIM is deployed at a base station (BS) that transmits to multiple single-antenna users. We formulate an optimization problem for minimizing the total downlink transmit power at the BS by jointly optimizing the transmit beamforming and the FIM’s surface shape, subject to an individual signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraint for each user as well as to a constraint on the maximum morphing range of the FIM. To address this problem, an efficient alternating optimization method is proposed to iteratively update the FIM’s surface shape and the transmit beamformer to gradually reduce the transmit power. Finally, our simulation results show that at a given data rate the FIM reduces the transmit power by about 3 dB compared to conventional rigid 2D arrays.
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When considering a single user, the optimal 3D surface shape of the FIM can be achieved by independently adjusting each element to the position with the strongest channel gain.
“When considering a single user, it was found that the optimal 3D surface shape of the FIM can be achieved by independently adjusting each element to the position with the strongest channel gain, as shown in Fig. 10.”
From Emerging Technologies in Intelligent Metasurfaces: Shaping the Future of Wireless Communications (2026) · cites this paper as [135]
The System Model (p. 2) says each FIM element can be positioned independently, and the Introduction (p. 2) describes optimizing the surface shape. But the paper studies a multiuser system and does not state that, for a single user, placing each element at its strongest-channel-gain position yields the optimal shape. Its surface-shape method instead updates the shape to increase SINR margin (Proposed Alternating Optimization Algorithm, p. 4). (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSimulation results in [29], [135] showed that the FIM can reduce the required transmit power by about 3 dB compared to conventional rigid 2D arrays while maintaining the same data rate.
“Simulation results showed that the FIM can reduce the required transmit power by about 3 dB compared to conventional rigid 2D arrays while maintaining the same data rate.”
From Emerging Technologies in Intelligent Metasurfaces: Shaping the Future of Wireless Communications (2026) · cites this paper as [135]
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“Motivated by this, An et al. [29], [135] investigated multiuser downlink communications, aiming to minimize the transmit power at the BS by jointly optimizing transmit beamforming and the FIM surface shape, subject to the QoS requirements for all users and the maximum morphing range of the FIM.”
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“Motivated by this, An et al. [29], [135] investigated multiuser downlink communications, aiming to minimize the transmit power at the BS by jointly optimizing transmit beamforming and the FIM surface shape, subject to the QoS requirements for all users and the maximum morphing range of the FIM.”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- An, J., Yuen, C., Di Renzo, M., Debbah, M., Poor, H. V., & Hanzo, L.
- Affiliations
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Université Paris-Saclay,CentraleSupélec, Laboratoire des Signaux et Systèmes,France,91192
- Khalifa University of Science and Technology,Center for 6G,Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates
- Princeton University (US)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Venue
- GLOBECOM 2024 - 2024 IEEE Global Communications Conference
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2024-12-08
- Pages
- 4932-4937
- ISSN
- 1930-529X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4408324568
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 3.06
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Globecom (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced Wireless Communication Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Advanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Acoustic Wave Phenomena Research
- Keywords
- transmit beamforming, surface shape optimization, transmit power minimization, SINR constraints, alternating optimization, base station, single-antenna users
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