Related Experiment Videos
Sustainability-aware user association for RIS-assisted mmWave networks in dense blockage environment
Aisha Mumtaz1,2, Sundus Ali1, Muhammad Imran Aslam1
1Department of Telecommunications Engineering, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.
Plos One
|August 4, 2026
Summary
This study introduces self-sustainable Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) for millimeter wave (mmWave) networks, enhancing user association probability and reducing outages in dense urban areas. The proposed model ensures RISs harvest energy, improving network sustainability and performance.
Area of Science:
- Wireless communication networks
- Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)
- Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology
- Sustainable energy harvesting
Background:
- Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology offers high bandwidth but faces path loss and blockages.
- Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) can mitigate blockages but increase network energy demands.
- Existing research often overlooks the energy sustainability of RIS, requiring external power or assuming passive operation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To incorporate the concept of RIS energy sustainability into user association probability for mmWave networks.
- To develop a stochastic geometry-based analytical framework for user association in mmWave networks assisted by self-sustainable RISs.
- To analyze the trade-offs between RIS deployment density and sustainable operation.
Main Methods:
- Proposed a stochastic geometry-based analytical framework for user association with self-sustainable RISs.
- Developed a baseline model for conventional RIS-assisted links for comparison.
- Introduced a two-stage thinning process to identify line-of-sight (LoS) and sustainable RISs.
- Derived analytical expressions for RIS sustainability and user association probabilities.
- Compared the proposed model with a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) model.
Main Results:
- Increased RIS deployment density enhances sustainable LoS RIS availability, improving sustainability-aware user association probability.
- The proposed model reduces outage probability in dense blockage environments.
- A trade-off exists between RIS density for user association and ensuring self-sustainable operation in highly dense environments.
- The system demonstrates fairness and computational efficiency under varying network loads.
Conclusions:
- Self-sustainable RISs offer a viable solution for enhancing mmWave network performance in dense urban environments.
- The proposed framework provides a feasible RIS deployment region for sustainable operation.
- The system is applicable for large-scale and dense networks due to its fairness and low computational cost.