Integration of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces in Dynamical Energy Analysis

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces have been recently investigated for their potentials to offer significant performance improvements in the next generation wireless telecommunication systems (5G and beyond / 6G). Intelligent surfaces are programmed to control the electromagnetic propagation and obtain the desired wavefront by tuning the local reflection phase of unit elements. Predicting the electromagnetic propagation in the RIS-assisted wireless channel accurately is a significant challenge for researchers and becomes crucial for Telecom operators to properly allocate the radio resources. We propose the use of an Eulerian ray-tracing method, the Dynamical Energy Analysis (DEA), as a coverage planning tool capable of account for the EM interaction between reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and the surrounding environment. The main characteristics that make DEA suitable for this purpose are discussed and some preliminary results of the reflective surface integration within the DEA code will be presented.