The Interplay of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces and Mobile Edge Computing in Future Wireless Networks: A Win-Win Strategy to 6G

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-empowered communication is being considered as an enabling technology for sixth generation (6G) wireless networks. The key idea of RIS-assisted communication is to enhance the capacity, coverage, energy efficiency, physical layer security, and many other aspects of modern wireless networks. At the same time, mobile edge computing (MEC) has already shown its huge potential by extending the computation, communication, and caching capabilities of a standalone cloud server to the network edge. In this article, we first provide an overview of how MEC and RIS can benefit each other. We envision that the integration of MEC and RIS will bring an unprecedented transformation to the future evolution of wireless networks. We provide a system-level perspective on the MEC-aided RIS (and RIS-assisted MEC) that will evolve wireless network towards 6G. We also outline some of the fundamental challenges that pertain to the implementation of MEC-aided RIS (and RIS-assisted MEC) networks. Finally, the key research trends in the RIS-assisted MEC are discussed.