Dr. Marco Di Renzo

A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is an emerging technology that enables the control of the electromagnetic waves. An RIS is a thin sheet of electromagnetic material, which is made of many nearly passive scattering elements that are controlled through low cost and low power electronic circuits. By appropriately configuring the electronic circuits, different wave transformations can be realized. Recent research works have shown that RISs whose geometric size is sufficiently large can outperform other technologies, e.g., relays, at a reduced hardware and signal processing complexity, and can enhance the reliability of wireless links by reducing the fading severity. In addition, the achievable performance of RIS-assisted systems has been proved to be robust to various hardware impairments, e.g., the phase noise, which may further reduce the implementation cost. To quantify the performance gains offered by RISs in wireless networks, realistic communication models need to be employed. In this talk, we offer a critical appraisal of the communication models currently employed for analyzing the ultimate performance limits and for optimizing RIS-assisted wireless networks. Furthermore, we introduce a new tractable, electromagnetic-compliant, and circuit-based communication model for RIS-assisted transmission and discuss its applications to the modeling and optimization of wireless systems. Source: arXiv:2009.02694 and arXiv:2011.14373.

Biography:

Marco Di Renzo received the Laurea (cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of L'Aquila, Italy, in 2003 and 2007, respectively, and the Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (Doctor of Science) degree from University Paris-Sud, France, in 2013. Since 2010, he has been with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), where he is a CNRS Research Director (CNRS Professor) in the Laboratory of Signals and Systems (L2S) of Paris-Saclay University – CNRS and CentraleSupelec, Paris, France. In Paris-Saclay University, he serves as the Coordinator of the Communications and Networks Research Area of the Laboratory of Excellence DigiCosme, and as a member of the Admission and Evaluation Committee of the Ph.D. School on Information and Communication Technologies. Currently, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Letters, and is a Distinguished Speaker of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. In 2017-2020, he was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and IEEE Communications Society. Also, he served as an Editor and the Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Communications Letters, and as an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Communications and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications. Currently, he serves as the Founding Chair of the Special Interest Group on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces of the Wireless Technical Committee of the IEEE Communications Society, and is the Founding Lead Editor of the IEEE Communications Society Best Readings in Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces. He is a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics, 2019), a World’s Top 2% Scientist from Stanford University (2020), a Fellow of the IEEE (2020), and a Fellow of the IET (2020). He has received several individual distinctions and research awards, which include the IEEE Communications Society Best Young Researcher Award for Europe, Middle East and Africa, the Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship, the IEEE Jack Neubauer Memorial Best System Paper Award, the IEEE Communications Society Young Professional in Academia Award, the SEE-IEEE Alain Glavieux Award, and a 2019 IEEE ICC Best Paper Award. In 2019, he was a recipient of a Nokia Foundation Visiting Professorship for conducting research on metamaterial-assisted wireless communications at Aalto University, Finland.