Estimate of Throughput Improvement Due to a Metasurface Reflector in 5G Millimeter-Wave Links

Rigorous solution of Maxwell's equations is used to show that electromagnetic field scattered by a metasurface (MS) reflector based on engineered phase gradient closely resembles the scattering pattern of a properly irradiated metal reflector of the same size. Approximate analytical expressions for the spatial distribution of the scattered signal are derived to estimate an increase in the achievable bit rate in a 5G-NR link due to an MS reflector. A figure-of-merit (FoM) based on the wireless link throughput is introduced. The FoM analysis shows that to affect a 5G wireless link, the MS reflector should exceed some critical size, which depends on the propagation distances. Furthermore, performance of a larger reflector initially increases linearly with its size, followed by a slower sublinear growth.