OTA Characterization of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface at 5G mmWave Band

Recently, a new working item has been identified in pre-standardization activities (at ETSI) on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) as a preparation for the the 3GPP 6G standardization. Among other topics, over-the-air (OTA) measurements are a common tool used to characterize the RIS. In this paper, we therefore propose OTA measurement techniques to evaluate RIS performance metrics and its compliance with 3GPP specifications through test and measurement (T&M) setups and equipments. These measurements are confirmed through extensive simulation results. The findings presented in this paper highlight the importance of OTA RIS measurements and show the impact of RIS technology on signal quality and network coverage, paving the way for the integration of this technology into next-generation wireless communication systems.