OpenRIS: Democratizing reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for real-world wireless enhancements

Abstract

Wireless enhancement is critical for next-generation mobile communication systems to realize seamless connectivity, yet traditional network expansion strategies are becoming economically unsustainable. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) provide a promising alternative by improving signal utilization. However, high hardware and deployment costs of advanced RISs limit their large-scale application. Here, we democratize this technology with OpenRIS, an open-source and low-cost platform composed of Lego-like meta-bricks. With digital-twin assistance, these meta-bricks can be flexibly assembled into arbitrary shapes to achieve customized, mass-deployable wireless enhancement without extra power. Experiments and full-wave simulations verify that the discretized OpenRIS achieves consistent performance with the continuous RIS. We further develop a dual-user wireless transmission system and a three-dimensional coverage measurement system to showcase the versatile applicability of OpenRIS in wireless enhancements. As a plug-and-play solution, OpenRIS accelerates the translation of RIS theory into practice and is poised to integrate into infrastructure, reshaping the future wireless world as steel and concrete shape modern cities.

This manuscript has been submitted for possible publication