Time Reversal for 6G Spatiotemporal Focusing: Recent Experiments, Opportunities, and Challenges

Late visions and trends for the future sixth Generation (6G) of wireless communications advocate, among other technologies, towards the deployment of network nodes with extreme numbers of antennas and up to terahertz frequencies, as means to enable various immersive applications. However, these technologies impose several challenges in the design of radio-frequency front-ends and beamforming architectures, as well as of ultra-wideband waveforms and computationally efficient transceiver signal processing. In this article, we revisit the Time Reversal (TR) technique, which was initially experimented in acoustics, in the context of large-bandwidth 6G wireless communications, capitalizing on its high resolution spatiotemporal focusing realized with low complexity transceivers. We first overview representative state-of-the-art in TR-based wireless communications, identifying the key competencies and requirements of TR for efficient operation. Recent and novel experimental setups and results for the spatiotemporal focusing capability of TR at the carrier frequencies $2.5$, $36$, and $273$ GHz are then presented, demonstrating in quantitative ways the technique's effectiveness in these very different frequency bands, as well as the roles of the available bandwidth and the number of transmit antennas. We also showcase the TR potential for realizing low complexity multi-user communications. The opportunities arising from TR-based wireless communications as well as the challenges for finding their place in 6G networks, also in conjunction with other complementary candidate technologies, are highlighted.

Time Reversal Precoding at SubTHz Frequencies: Experimental Results on Spatiotemporal Focusing

Due to availability of large spectrum chunks, the sub-TeraHertz (subTHz) frequency band can support Ultra-WideBand (UWB) wireless communications, paving the way for unprecedented increase in the wireless network capacity. This fact is expected to be the next breakthrough for the upcoming sixth Generation (6G) standards. However, the technology of subTHz transceivers is not yet mature enough to apply the advanced signal processing currently being implemented for millimeter wave wireless communications. In this paper, we consider the Time Reversal (TR) precoding technique, which provides simple and robust processing capable to offer highly focalized in time and space UWB waveforms, exploiting the spatial diversity of wireless channels. We first investigate experimentally the performance of subTHz TR focusing in complex media inside a leaking reverberation cavity. We then combine TR with received spatial modulation to realize data communication using a simple non-coherent receiver with two antennas. Our results showcase the capability of TR to offer focusing in time in the order of few nanoseconds and in space in the order of less than 1 mm.

Polarization-Based Reconfigurable Tags for Robust Ambient Backscatter Communications

Ambient backscatter communication is an emerging and promising low-energy technology for the Internet of Things. In such a system, a tag sends a binary message to a reader by backscattering a radio frequency signal generated by an ambient source. The tag can operate without battery and without generating additional radio waves. However, the tag-to-reader link suffers from the source-to-reader interference. In this paper, we propose a polarization-based reconfigurable antenna in order to improve the robustness of the tag-to-reader link against the source-to-reader direct interference. More precisely, we compare different types of tags' antennas, different tags' encoding schemes, and different detectors at the reader. By using analysis, numerical simulations, and experiments, we show that a polarization-based reconfigurable tag with four polarization directions significantly outperforms a non-reconfigurable tag, and provides almost the same performance as an ideal reconfigurable tag with a large number of reconfigurable polarization patterns.

Robust Ambient Backscatter Communications with Polarization Reconfigurable Tags

Ambient backscatter communication system is an emerging and promising low-energy technology for Internet of Things. In such system, a device named tag, sends a binary message to a reader by backscattering a radio frequency signal generated by an ambient source. Such tag can operate without battery and without generating additional wave. However, the tag-to-reader link suffers from the source-to-reader direct interference. In this paper, for the first time, we propose to exploit a "polarization reconfigurable" antenna to improve robustness of the tag-to-reader link against the source-to-reader direct interference. Our proposed new tag sends its message by backscattering as an usual tag. However, it repeats its message several times, with a different radiation pattern and polarization, each time. We expect one polarization pattern to be better detected by the reader. We show by simulations and experiments, in line-of-sight and in richly scattering environment, that a polarization reconfigurable tag limited to 4 polarization directions outperforms a nonreconfigurable tag and nearly equals an ideally reconfigurable tag in performance.

A Prototype of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface with Continuous Control of the Reflection Phase

With the development of the next generation of mobile networks, new research challenges have emerged, and new technologies have been proposed to face them. On the one hand, the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) technology is being investigated for partially controlling the wireless channels. The RIS is a promising technology for improving the signal quality by controlling the scattering of the electromagnetic waves in a nearly passive manner. On the other hand, ambient backscatter communications (AmBC) is another promising technology that is tailored for addressing the energy efficiency requirements for the Internet of Things (IoT). This technique enables low-power communications by backscattering ambient signals and, thus, reusing existing electromagnetic waves for communications. RIS technology can be utilized in the context of AmBC for improving the system performance. In this paper, we report a prototype of an RIS that offers the capability of controlling the phase shift of the reflected waves in a continuous manner, and we characterize its characteristics by using full-wave simulations and through experimental measurements. Specifically, we introduce a phase shift model for predicting the signal reflected by the RIS prototype. We apply the proposed model for optimizing an RISassisted AmBC system and we demonstrate that the use of an RIS can significantly improve the system performance.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface -Assisted Ambient Backscatter Communications -- Experimental Assessment

Sixth generation (6G) mobile networks may include new passive technologies, such as ambient backscatter communication or the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, to avoid the emission of waves and the corresponding energy consumption. On the one hand, a reconfigurable intelligent surface improves the network performance by adding electronically controlled reflected paths in the radio propagation channel. On the other hand, in an ambient backscatter system, a device, named tag, communicates towards a reader by backscattering the waves of an ambient source (such as a TV tower). However, the tag's backscattered signal is weak and strongly interfered by the direct signal from the ambient source. In this paper, we propose a new reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted ambient backscatter system. The proposed surface allows to control the reflection of an incident wave coming from the exact source location towards the tag and reader locations (creating hot spots at their locations), thanks to passive reflected beams from a predefined codebook. A common phase-shift can also be applied to the beam. Thanks to these features, we demonstrate experimentally that the performance of ambient backscatter communications can be significantly improved.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted Ambient Backscatter Communications -- Experimental Assessment

Sixth generation (6G) mobile networks may include new passive technologies, such as ambient backscatter communication or the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, to avoid the emission of waves and the corresponding energy consumption. On the one hand, a reconfigurable intelligent surface improves the network performance by adding electronically controlled reflected paths in the radio propagation channel. On the other hand, in an ambient backscatter system, a device, named tag, communicates towards a reader by backscattering the waves of an ambient source (such as a TV tower). However, the tag's backscattered signal is weak and strongly interfered by the direct signal from the ambient source. In this paper, we propose a new reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted ambient backscatter system. The proposed surface has two features: it controls the reflection of an incident wave coming from the exact source location towards the tag and reader locations (creating hot spots at their locations), thanks to passive reflected beams from a predefined codebook. The surface also applies a common phase-shift to the beam. We demonstrate experimentally that by tuning the beam and the phase-shift of the reconfigurable intelligent surface, we can improve significantly the performance of ambient backscatter communications.