Enhancing Reflecting Intelligence Surface Using Surface-Wave Engineering

An emerging innovation in next-generation wireless communications involves the manipulation of the radio environment between transmitter and receiver by utilizing thin planar engineered sheets, termed reflecting intelligent surfaces (RIS). These surfaces, when strategically positioned on structures like buildings and billboards, possess the capability to redirect incoming wireless signals to desired directions. Within the electromagnetic domain, two prevailing design methodologies exist for the realization of RIS: anomalous reflection (AR)-based RIS and surface-wave (SW)-based RIS. In this work, we focus on the latter.