Impact of RIS Orientation on Throughput in UAV-Assisted Wireless Systems

This paper investigates the impact of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) orientation on the throughput performance of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-assisted wireless communication systems. Specifically, we study how physical rotation of the RIS, through controlled azimuth and elevation adjustments, influences the effective channel and data rate. A UAV-mounted RIS enables directional alignment to serve ground users in scenarios where the direct Base Station (BS)-to-user path is blocked. Using the SimRIS channel simulator, we analyze the system under various rotation angles and present performance heatmaps that highlight optimal RIS orientations. The study shows that RIS alignment has a substantial effect on achievable rates, thereby motivating orientation-aware optimization in practical deployments.