Flexible Rate-Splitting for Joint Unicast and Multi-Group Multicast Transmission in RIS-Assisted mmWave Networks

Joint unicast and multi-group multicast transmission with RIS and RSMA is a promising enabler for 6G services. However, existing RSMA schemes for such scenarios split only unicast messages while leaving multicast messages intact, limiting the degree of freedom of interference management. To this end, we propose a joint rate splitting framework that splits both unicast and multicast information and two RSMA schemes. The common-common fusion (CCF-RSMA) scheme encodes the unicast common part into the global multicast common stream, while the private-common fusion (PCF-RSMA) scheme merges it with the group-specific multicast private part. For each scheme, we formulate energy efficiency (EE) maximization problems under both perfect and imperfect channel state information, and jointly optimize active beamforming, RIS phase shifts and rate allocation parameters. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed schemes significantly outperform the comparative schemes in terms of EE, thereby proving the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Moreover, CCF-RSMA is more favorable in scenarios with larger groups and higher unicast QoS demands, whereas PCF-RSMA is better suited for scenarios with smaller groups and higher multicast QoS.

Multicast Capacity of XL-RIS Assisted Hybrid Near- and Far-Field mmWave Communications

Multicast transmission in millimeter-wave (mmWave) networks is fundamentally limited by the weakest user, and blockages further exacerbate this problem. Large-scale reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (XL-RIS) offer a promising solution by providing high array gain to overcome blockages. However, the large aperture of XL-RIS significantly expands the near-field region, creating a hybrid-field scenario where some users lie in the near-field while others remain in the far-field. Existing hybrid-field studies on XL-RIS have primarily focused on channel estimation and deployment optimization, leaving multicast capacity analysis unexplored. This paper investigates the fundamental capacity limits of XL-RIS-assisted multicast communications in hybrid-field scenarios. For the fundamental two-user case consisting of one near-field and one far-field user, we derive the optimal closed-form covariance matrix and optimize the RIS phase shifts via manifold optimization. We establish that the multicast capacity scales as $Θ(\log_2(MN))$ as the number of transmit antennas M and/or RIS elements N grow large, and prove this scaling is order-tight. Numerical results validate the bounds and show the impact of M, $N$, and distance on the multicast rate.