RIS-Based Over-the-Air Diffractional Channel Coding

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) are programmable metasurfaces utilizing sub-wavelength meta-atoms and a controller for precise electromagnetic wave manipulation. This work introduces an innovative channel coding scheme, termed RISbased diffractional channel coding (DCC), which capitalizes on diffraction between two RIS layers for signal-level encoding. Contrary to traditional methods, DCC expands signal dimensions through diffraction, presenting a novel countermeasure to channel effects. This article focuses on the operational principles of DCC, including encoder and decoder designs, and explores its possibilities to construct block and trellis codes, demonstrating its potential as both an alternative and a supplementary conventional coding scheme. Key advantages of DCC include eliminating extra power requirements for encoding, achieving computation at the speed of light, and enabling adjustable code distance, making it a progressive solution for efficient wireless communication, particularly in systems with large-scale data or massive MIMO.