On the Network-Layer Modeling and Configuration of Programmable Wireless Environments

Programmable wireless environments enable the software-defined propagation of waves within them, yielding exceptional performance. Several building-block technologies have been implemented and evaluated at the physical layer in the past. The present work contributes a network-layer solution to configure such environments for multiple users and objectives, and for any underlying physical-layer technology. Supported objectives include any combination of Quality of Service and power transfer optimization, eavesdropping, and Doppler effect mitigation, in multi-cast or uni-cast settings. In addition, a graph-based model of programmable environments is proposed, which incorporates core physical observations and efficiently separates physical and networking concerns. The evaluation takes place in a specially developed simulation tool, and in a variety of environments, validating the model and reaching insights into the user capacity of programmable environments.