Student or educator? Sign up with your school email and get 6 months of Pro free.
CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 3,002

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Aided Wireless Communications: A Tutorial

Open access
Wu, Qingqing, Zhang, Shuowen, Zheng, Beixiong, You, Changsheng, Zhang, Rui·2021·IEEE Transactions on Communications
DOI 10.1109/tcomm.2021.3051897
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is an enabling technology to engineer the radio signal propagation in wireless networks. By smartly tuning the signal reflection via a large number of low-cost passive reflecting elements, IRS is capable of dynamically altering wireless channels to enhance the communication performance. It is thus expected that the new IRS-aided hybrid wireless network comprising both active and passive components will be highly promising to achieve a sustainable capacity growth cost-effectively in the future. Despite its great potential, IRS faces new challenges to be efficiently integrated into wireless networks, such as reflection optimization, channel estimation, and deployment from communication design perspectives. In this paper, we provide a tutorial overview of IRS-aided wireless communications to address the above issues, and elaborate its reflection and channel models, hardware architecture and practical constraints, as well as various appealing applications in wireless networks. Moreover, we highlight important directions worthy of further investigation in future work.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1109/tcomm.2021.3051897

Cites

6 of 6 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Show all 6 references

Research works printed but not linked: 199

  1. Rajatheva, 2020, Scoring the Terabit/s goal:Broadband connectivity in 6G, arXiv:2008.07220 · arXiv
  2. 10.1109/MCOM.2014.6736746 · DOI · Paper page
  3. 10.1109/JSAC.2017.2692307 · DOI · Paper page
  4. 10.1109/COMST.2016.2594120 · DOI · Paper page
  5. 10.1109/MWC.2017.1600343 · DOI · Paper page
  6. 10.1017/CBO9780511841224 · DOI · Paper page
  7. 10.1109/GLOCOM.2018.8647620 · DOI · Paper page
  8. 10.1109/TWC.2019.2936025 · DOI · Paper page
  9. 10.1109/MCOM.001.1900107 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Lyu, 2020, Hybrid active/passive wireless network aided by intelligent reflecting surface: System modeling and performance analysis, arXiv:2004.13318 · arXiv
  11. 10.1109/ICASSP40776.2020.9054415 · DOI
  12. Basar, 2019, Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for Doppler effect and multipath fading mitigation, arXiv:1912.04080 · arXiv
  13. 10.1109/lwc.2020.3024781 · DOI
  14. Huang, 2020, Transforming fading channel from fast to slow: IRS-assisted high-mobility communication, arXiv:2011.03147 · arXiv
  15. Rajatheva, 2020, White paper on broadband connectivity in 6G, arXiv:2004.14247 · arXiv
  16. 10.1049/iet-com.2010.0544 · DOI · Paper page
  17. 10.1109/INFOCOM.2018.8485924 · DOI · Paper page
  18. 10.1186/s13638-019-1438-9 · DOI · Paper page
  19. 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2935192 · DOI · Paper page
  20. 10.23919/JCIN.2019.8917871 · DOI · Paper page
  21. Arun, 2019, RFocus: Practical beamforming for small devices, arXiv:1905.05130 · arXiv
  22. 2020, NTT DOCOMO and Metawave Announce Successful Demonstration of 28 GHz-Band 5G Using World’s First Meta-Structure Technology
  23. 2020, TowerJazz and Lumotive Demonstrate Solid-State Beam Steering for LiDAR
  24. 2020, Pivotal Commware Achieves Gigabit Connectivity in Live 5G mmWave Demo at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles 2019
  25. 2020, DOCOMO Conducts World’s First Successful Trial of Transparent Dynamic Metasurface
  26. 2020, A Technological Platform to Simplify all EM Infrastructures: Replacing Hardware Complexity by Algorithms
  27. 2020, A Hardware Platform for Software-Driven Functional Metasurfaces
  28. 2020, Artificial Intelligence Aided D-Band Network for 5G Long Term Evolution
  29. 2020, Harnessing Multipath Propagation in Wireless Networks: A Meta-Surface Transformation of Wireless Networks Into Smart Reconfigurable Radio Environments
  30. 10.34133/2019/1849272 · DOI · Paper page
  31. 10.1109/TAP.2013.2287296 · DOI · Paper page
  32. 10.1109/MCOM.2018.1700659 · DOI · Paper page
  33. 10.1109/OJCOMS.2020.3002955 · DOI · Paper page
  34. ElMossallamy, 2020, Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for wireless communications: Principles, challenges, and opportunities, arXiv:2005.00938 · arXiv
  35. 10.1109/MWC.001.1900534 · DOI · Paper page
  36. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007211 · DOI · Paper page
  37. Björnson, 2020, Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces: Three myths and two critical questions, arXiv:2006.03377 · arXiv
  38. 10.1109/ICASSP.2018.8461496 · DOI · Paper page
  39. Baker, 2003, The Mathematical Theory of Huygens’ Principle, 329
  40. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007037 · DOI
  41. Tang, 2019, Wireless communications with reconfigurable intelligent surface: Path loss modeling and experimental measurement, arXiv:1911.05326 · arXiv
  42. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2960779 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Ellingson, 2019, Path loss in reconfigurable intelligent surface-enabled channels, arXiv:1912.06759 · arXiv
  44. Di Renzo, 2020, Analytical modeling of the path-loss for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces–anomalous mirror or scatterer ?, arXiv:2001.10862 · arXiv
  45. 10.1038/lsa.2014.99 · DOI · Paper page
  46. 10.1002/9781118846728 · doi:10.1002/9781118846728
  47. 10.1038/s41467-018-06802-0 · DOI · Paper page
  48. 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2626318 · doi:10.1109/lawp.2016.2626318
  49. 10.1109/ICASSP.2019.8683145 · DOI · Paper page
  50. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9148961 · DOI · Paper page
  51. 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.3001125 · doi:10.1109/tcomm.2020.3001125
  52. 10.1038/srep03059 · DOI · Paper page
  53. 10.1038/srep06693 · DOI · Paper page
  54. 10.1109/TVT.2019.2923338 · doi:10.1109/tvt.2019.2923338
  55. 10.1109/JSAC.2013.130205 · DOI · Paper page
  56. 10.1109/TWC.2020.2986438 · DOI · Paper page
  57. 10.1007/s10107-006-0064-6 · DOI · Paper page
  58. 10.1109/TCOMM.2019.2958916 · DOI · Paper page
  59. 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2600425 · doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2600425 · Paper page
  60. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3000807 · DOI · Paper page
  61. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2961656 · DOI · Paper page
  62. 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.2981458 · DOI · Paper page
  63. 10.1109/SPAWC48557.2020.9154337 · DOI
  64. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2969167 · DOI · Paper page
  65. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3000814 · DOI · Paper page
  66. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2961357 · DOI · Paper page
  67. 10.1109/LCOMM.2020.2969870 · DOI · Paper page
  68. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2968303 · DOI · Paper page
  69. 10.1109/TWC.2020.3022297 · DOI · Paper page
  70. Zhao, 2020, Exploiting amplitude control in intelligent reflecting surface aided wireless communication with imperfect CSI, arXiv:2005.07002 · arXiv
  71. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3000813 · DOI · Paper page
  72. 10.1109/TVT.2020.2973073 · DOI · Paper page
  73. 10.1109/PACRIM47961.2019.8985103 · DOI
  74. 10.1109/GLOCOMW.2018.8644519 · DOI · Paper page
  75. Hu, 2020, Sum-rate maximization for multiuser MISO downlink systems with self-sustainable IRS, arXiv:2005.11663 · arXiv
  76. Hua, 2020, Intelligent reflecting surface-aided joint processing coordinated multipoint transmission, arXiv:2003.13909 · arXiv
  77. 10.1109/TWC.2020.2990766 · DOI · Paper page
  78. Mei, 2020, Performance analysis and user association optimization for wireless network aided by multiple intelligent reflecting surfaces, arXiv:2009.02551 · arXiv
  79. 10.1109/GLOBECOM38437.2019.9014204 · DOI
  80. 10.1109/ISIT44484.2020.9174375 · DOI
  81. 10.1109/TWC.2019.2922609 · DOI · Paper page
  82. Liu, 2020, Intelligent reflecting surface meets mobile edge computing: Enhancing wireless communications for computation offloading, arXiv:2001.07449 · arXiv
  83. 10.1109/LWC.2020.3021473 · DOI
  84. 10.1109/SPAWC48557.2020.9153884 · DOI
  85. Zhang, 2020, Intelligent reflecting surface aided multi-user communication: Capacity region and deployment strategy, arXiv:2009.02324 · arXiv
  86. Guo, 2019, Weighted sum-rate optimization for intelligent reflecting surface enhanced wireless networks, arXiv:1905.07920 · arXiv
  87. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2919685 · DOI · Paper page
  88. Yang, 2020, Intelligent reflecting surface assisted anti-jamming communications: A fast reinforcement learning approach, arXiv:2004.12539 · arXiv
  89. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3000835 · DOI · Paper page
  90. Zhang, 2019, Analysis and optimization of outage probability in multi-intelligent reflecting surface-assisted systems, arXiv:1909.02193 · arXiv
  91. 10.1109/LWC.2020.3010512 · doi:10.1109/lwc.2020.3010512
  92. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2972527 · DOI
  93. Zhao, 2020, Exploiting amplitude control in intelligent reflecting surface aided wireless communication with imperfect CSI, arXiv:2005.07002 · arXiv
  94. 10.1109/TWC.2020.3021434 · DOI · Paper page
  95. 10.1109/ICASSP40776.2020.9053976 · DOI · Paper page
  96. Taha, 2019, Enabling large intelligent surfaces with compressive sensing and deep learning, arXiv:1904.10136 · arXiv
  97. 10.1109/GLOBECOM38437.2019.9013256 · DOI · Paper page
  98. 10.1109/SPAWC48557.2020.9154301 · DOI · Paper page
  99. Han, 2020, Deep neural network-based quantized signal reconstruction for DOA estimation, arXiv:2005.01102 · arXiv
  100. 10.1109/ICASSP.2019.8683663 · DOI · Paper page
  101. 10.1109/ICASSP40776.2020.9053695 · DOI · Paper page
  102. Zheng, 2020, Fast channel estimation for IRS-assisted OFDM, arXiv:2008.04476 · arXiv
  103. 10.1109/LSP.2020.2998357 · DOI · Paper page
  104. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2948632 · DOI · Paper page
  105. 10.1109/SAM48682.2020.9104260 · DOI
  106. Mirza, 2019, Channel estimation method and phase shift design for reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted MIMO networks, arXiv:1912.10671 · arXiv
  107. He, 2020, Channel estimation for RIS-aided mmwave MIMO channels, arXiv:2002.06453 · arXiv
  108. Chen, 2019, Channel estimation for reconfigurable intelligent surface aided multi-user MIMO systems, arXiv:1912.03619 · arXiv
  109. Hu, 2019, Two-timescale channel estimation for reconfigurable intelligent surface aided wireless communications, arXiv:1912.07990 · arXiv
  110. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007057 · DOI · Paper page
  111. 10.1109/SAM48682.2020.9104305 · DOI
  112. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9149146 · DOI
  113. Khan, 2019, Deep-learning-aided detection for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, arXiv:1910.09136 · arXiv
  114. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2993699 · DOI · Paper page
  115. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9149153 · DOI
  116. Ning, 2019, Terahertz multi-user massive MIMO with intelligent reflecting surface: Beam training and hybrid beamforming, arXiv:1912.11662 · arXiv
  117. Liu, 2020, Deep residual learning for channel estimation in intelligent reflecting surface-assisted multi-user communications, arXiv:2009.01423 · arXiv
  118. Nadeem, 2019, Intelligent reflecting surface assisted wireless communication: Modeling and channel estimation, arXiv:1906.02360 · arXiv
  119. 10.1109/TWC.2020.3004330 · DOI · Paper page
  120. 10.1109/GLOBECOM42002.2020.9347985 · DOI
  121. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9149292 · DOI
  122. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007056 · DOI · Paper page
  123. Wei, 2020, Channel estimation for RIS-empowered multi-user MISO wireless communications, arXiv:2008.01459 · arXiv
  124. Zhao, 2020, Outage-constrained robust beamforming for intelligent reflecting surface aided wireless communication, arXiv:2007.10769 · arXiv
  125. 10.1109/lwc.2020.3034388 · DOI · Paper page
  126. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007043 · DOI · Paper page
  127. 10.1109/LWC.2020.3000490 · DOI · Paper page
  128. Wang, 2020, Joint beam training and positioning for intelligent reflecting surfaces assisted millimeter wave communications, arXiv:2009.03536 · arXiv
  129. 10.1109/LWC.2020.3005980 · DOI · Paper page
  130. 10.1109/SPAWC.2019.8815412 · DOI · Paper page
  131. Jiang, 2020, Learning to reflect and to beamform for intelligent reflecting surface with implicit channel estimation, arXiv:2009.14404 · arXiv
  132. Jiang, 2020, Channel estimation via direct calculation and deep learning for RIS-aided mmWave systems, arXiv:2008.04704 · arXiv
  133. 10.1109/TMC.2005.68 · doi:10.1109/tmc.2005.68
  134. 10.1109/MCOM.2007.343618 · doi:10.1109/mcom.2007.343618
  135. 10.1109/MILCOM.2005.1605905 · doi:10.1109/milcom.2005.1605905
  136. 10.1109/TMC.2009.114 · doi:10.1109/tmc.2009.114
  137. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2986290 · DOI · Paper page
  138. Zheng, 2020, Double-IRS assisted multi-user MIMO: Cooperative passive beamforming design, arXiv:2008.13701 · arXiv
  139. Zheng, 2020, Uplink channel estimation for double-IRS assisted multi-user MIMO, arXiv:2010.06155 · arXiv
  140. Zheng, 2020, Efficient channel estimation for double-IRS aided multi-user MIMO system, arXiv:2011.00738 · arXiv
  141. 10.1109/jsac.2020.3018808 · DOI · Paper page
  142. 10.1109/jsac.2020.3018823 · DOI · Paper page
  143. 10.1109/TIT.1978.1055917 · DOI · Paper page
  144. 10.1109/GLOBECOM42002.2020.9322599 · doi:10.1109/globecom42002.2020.9322599
  145. Zhou, 2020, Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided covert wireless communication with delay constraint, arXiv:2011.03726 · arXiv
  146. 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2924034 · DOI · Paper page
  147. 10.1109/LWC.2020.3012664 · DOI
  148. Zhang, 2020, Robust and secure communications in intelligent reflecting surface assisted NOMA networks, arXiv:2009.00267 · arXiv
  149. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2969629 · DOI · Paper page
  150. 10.1109/GCWkshps45667.2019.9024490 · DOI · Paper page
  151. 10.1109/TWC.2020.3024860 · DOI · Paper page
  152. Lv, 2020, Secure two-way communications via intelligent reflecting surfaces, arXiv:2008.11352 · arXiv
  153. 10.1109/LWC.2019.2943559 · DOI · Paper page
  154. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2969664 · DOI · Paper page
  155. 10.1109/TCOMM.2017.2676103 · DOI · Paper page
  156. 10.1109/TVT.2018.2799947 · DOI · Paper page
  157. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3000802 · DOI · Paper page
  158. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9148892 · DOI
  159. Shi, 2019, Enhanced secure wireless information and power transfer via intelligent reflecting surface, arXiv:1911.01001 · arXiv
  160. 10.1109/TWC.2017.2789293 · DOI · Paper page
  161. 10.1109/JPROC.2019.2952892 · DOI · Paper page
  162. Wu, 2020, 5G-and-Beyond networks with UAVs: From communications to sensing and intelligence, arXiv:2010.09317 · arXiv
  163. 10.1109/ICCWorkshops49005.2020.9145305 · DOI
  164. Lu, 2020, Aerial intelligent reflecting surface: Joint placement and passive beamforming design with 3D beam flattening, arXiv:2007.13295 · arXiv
  165. 10.1109/LWC.2020.2966705 · DOI · Paper page
  166. 10.1109/WCNC45663.2020.9120632 · DOI
  167. Hua, 2020, UAV-assisted intelligent reflecting surface symbiotic radio system, arXiv:2007.14029 · arXiv
  168. 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2990166 · DOI · Paper page
  169. 10.1109/TVT.2020.3004598 · DOI · Paper page
  170. Wei, 2020, Sum-rate maximization for IRS-assisted UAV OFDMA communication systems, arXiv:2008.09939 · arXiv
  171. 10.1109/TWC.2019.2911939 · DOI · Paper page
  172. 10.1109/TWC.2020.2978073 · DOI · Paper page
  173. 10.1109/tvt.2020.3031657 · DOI · Paper page
  174. Jamali, 2019, Intelligent reflecting and transmitting surface aided millimeter wave massive MIMO, arXiv:1902.07670 · arXiv
  175. Basar, 2020, SimRIS channel simulator for reconfigurable intelligent surface-empowered communication systems, arXiv:2006.00468 · arXiv
  176. 10.1109/VTC2020-Spring48590.2020.9129075 · DOI · Paper page
  177. Basar, 2020, Indoor and outdoor physical channel modeling and efficient positioning for reconfigurable intelligent surfaces in mmwave bands, arXiv:2006.02240 · arXiv
  178. 10.1109/TWC.2016.2633522 · DOI · Paper page
  179. Zhou, 2020, Delay-optimal scheduling for IRS-aided mobile edge computing, arXiv:2011.03690 · arXiv
  180. Cao, 2019, Intelligent reflecting surface enhanced resilient design for MEC offloading over millimeter wave links, arXiv:1912.06361 · arXiv
  181. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007035 · DOI · Paper page
  182. 10.1109/gcwkshps45667.2019.9024398 · DOI
  183. 10.1109/LCOMM.2020.2979709 · DOI · Paper page
  184. 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.3033006 · DOI · Paper page
  185. 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.3020838 · DOI · Paper page
  186. 10.1109/LCOMM.2020.3014201 · DOI
  187. Pan, 2020, When full-duplex transmission meets intelligent reflecting surface: Opportunities and challenges, arXiv:2005.12561 · arXiv
  188. 10.1109/MVT.2020.3023682 · DOI · Paper page
  189. Bourdoux, 2020, 6G white paper on localization and sensing, arXiv:2006.01779 · arXiv
  190. 10.1109/WCNCW48565.2020.9124848 · DOI · Paper page
  191. 10.1109/ICC40277.2020.9149411 · doi:10.1109/icc40277.2020.9149411
  192. Hao, 2020, Robust design for intelligent reflecting surface assisted MIMO-OFDMA terahertz communications, arXiv:2009.05893 · arXiv
  193. 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2994100 · DOI
  194. 10.1109/TCOMM.2020.2971486 · DOI · Paper page
  195. 10.1109/twc.2020.3028198 · DOI · Paper page
  196. 10.1109/JSAC.2020.3007044 · doi:10.1109/jsac.2020.3007044
  197. Li, 2020, Single-RF MIMO: From spatial modulation to metasurface-based modulation, arXiv:2009.00789 · arXiv
  198. 10.1109/lwc.2020.3034370 · DOI · Paper page
  199. Mei, 2020, Cooperative multi-beam routing for multi-IRS aided massive MIMO, arXiv:2011.02354 · arXiv

Cited by

See all 3,002

Metadata

Authors
Wu, Q., Zhang, S., Zheng, B., You, C., & Zhang, R.
Venue
IEEE Transactions on Communications
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Published
2021-05
Volume
69
Issue
5
Pages
3313-3351
ISSN
  • 0090-6778 (ISSN-L)
  • 1558-0857
DOI
10.1109/tcomm.2021.3051897
OpenAlex
W3129486236
Cited by
3,002
References
6
FWCI
145.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green
Licence

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Aided Wireless Communications: A Tutorial. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1109/tcomm.2021.3051897
The paper
Wu, Q., Zhang, S., Zheng, B., You, C., & Zhang, R. (2021). Intelligent Reflecting Surface-Aided Wireless Communications: A Tutorial. IEEE Transactions on Communications. https://doi.org/10.1109/tcomm.2021.3051897

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.