Reflection of Wideband Signals With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: A Tutorial

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14209/jcis.2026.14

Keywords:

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces, RIS, Wideband, Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, Frequency Selective

Abstract

Recently, the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology has ushered in the prospect of control over the wireless propagation environment. By establishing alternative propagation paths for the transmitted signals, and by reflecting them in a controllable manner, the RIS is able to improve the signal reception. In this tutorial, we present the fundamental modeling aspects of RIS-aided communication systems, accompanied by practical examples and intuitive explanations. The main concepts underlying wideband signal reflection with RISs systems are also explored. We, moreover, evaluate the impact of bandwidth restrictions on the wideband signal reflected by the RIS. If not carefully considered, this can become an impediment for the adoption of the RIS in the next generation of communications systems. Therefore, in this tutorial we show a RIS configuration method that provides frequency selective signal reflection for wideband signals.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Pedro Henrique Carneiro de Souza, National Institute of Telecommunications - Inatel

Pedro H. C. de Souza was born in Santa Rita do Sapuca´ı, Minas Gerais, MG, Brazil in 1992. He received the B.S., M.S. and the Doctor degrees in telecommunications engineering from the National Institute of Telecommunications - INATEL, Santa Rita do Sapuca´ı, in 2015, 2017 and 2022, respectively; is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in telecommunications engineering at INATEL, with the support of FAPESP (Fundaçao de Amparo `a Pesquisa do Estado de S˜ao Paulo). During the year of 2014 he was a Hardware Tester with the INATEL Competence Center - ICC. His main interests are: digital communication systems, mobile telecommunications systems, 6G, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, convex optimization for telecommunication systems.

Luciano Leonel Mendes, National Institute of Telecommunications - Inatel

Luciano Leonel Mendes received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Inatel, Brazil, in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and the Doctor degree from Unicamp, Brazil, in 2007, all in electrical engineering. Since 2001, he has been a Professor with Inatel, where he has acted as the Technical Manager of the Hardware Development Laboratory from 2006 to 2012. From 2013 to 2015, he was a Visiting Researcher with the Technical University of Dresden in the Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems, where he has developed his postdoctoral. In 2017, he was elected Research Coordinator of the 5G Brazil Project, an association involving industries, telecom operators, and academia which aims for funding and build an ecosystem toward 5G in Brazil. He is also the technical coordinator of the Brazil 6G Project.

Downloads

Published

2026-07-28

How to Cite

Carneiro de Souza, P. H., & Leonel Mendes, L. (2026). Reflection of Wideband Signals With Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: A Tutorial. Journal of Communication and Information Systems, 41(1), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.14209/jcis.2026.14

Issue

Vol. 41 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Tutorial Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Pedro Henrique Carneiro de Souza, Luciano Leonel Mendes (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

___________

Received 2025-12-02
Accepted 2026-07-20
Published 2026-07-28