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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, improving user association probability and reducing outages in dense urban environments. The proposed model balances RIS deployment for sustainability and network performance.
Area of Science:
- Wireless communication networks
- Signal processing
- Materials science
Background:
- Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology offers high bandwidth but faces path loss and blockages.
- Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) can mitigate blockages but increase network energy demands.
- Existing RIS research often overlooks energy sustainability and continuous operation without external power.
Purpose of the Study:
- To incorporate RIS energy sustainability into user association probability for mmWave networks.
- To develop a stochastic geometry framework for user association with self-sustainable RISs.
- To analyze the trade-offs between RIS deployment density and sustainable operation.
Main Methods:
- Developed a stochastic geometry-based analytical framework for user association with self-sustainable RISs.
- Introduced a two-stage thinning process to identify suitable RISs for line-of-sight (LoS) and sustainable operation.
- Derived analytical expressions for RIS sustainability and user association probabilities.
Main Results:
- Increasing RIS deployment density enhances sustainable LoS RIS availability and user association probability.
- A trade-off exists between RIS density for user association and ensuring self-sustainable operation in dense environments.
- The proposed system demonstrates fairness and computational efficiency, suitable for large-scale networks.
Conclusions:
- Self-sustainable RISs are crucial for improving mmWave network performance in challenging blockage scenarios.
- A feasible RIS deployment region for sustainable operation can be identified by balancing density and energy harvesting.
- The proposed framework offers a computationally inexpensive and fair solution for dense urban mmWave networks.
