From Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces to Holographic MIMO Surfaces and Back

Holographic Beamforming is a promising concept to reduce the power consumption of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna arrays. In a holographic approach, the impedance of antenna patches is varied through the inclusion of tuning elements, such as varactor diodes, which allow electronic control of the phase and amplitude of each antenna. In this work, we provide the electromagnetic framework for the design of a Holographic MIMO Surface (HMIMOS). We analyze its performance and compare its power consumption to passive Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and MIMO Digital Antenna Arrays (DAA) at 5G Frequency Range (FR) 2. The results show that the power consumption of HMIMOS is lower than of MIMO DAAs, but significantly higher than of RISs. However, a combination of active and passive elements on a RIS can offer many benefits in terms of environmental awareness and intelligence for Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) in Beyond 5G (B5G) networks.