Controlling a reconfigurable intelligent surface device

1 . A method performed by a base station, the method comprising:

determining a control signal for a reconfigurable intelligent surface device to control a parameter of at least one element of a plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the parameter comprises information indicating a phase angle; and

transmitting the control signal to the reconfigurable intelligent surface device to control the parameter of the at least one element of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are aligned as a one dimensional uniform array, and each element of the plurality of elements is individually programmable.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the phase angle comprises φ c , and the phase angle is greater than zero.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control signal comprises information indicating a phase difference.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter comprises a quantized value of the phase angle.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the control signal comprises physical layer signaling, a medium access control message, a radio resource control message, or a combination thereof.

6 . A base station, comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the base station to:

determine a control signal for a reconfigurable intelligent surface device to control a parameter of at least one element of a plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the parameter comprises information indicating a phase angle; and

transmit the control signal to the reconfigurable intelligent surface device to control the parameter of the at least one element of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are aligned as a one dimensional uniform array, and each element of the plurality of elements is individually programmable.

7 . A method for performing a network function, the method comprising:

receiving a control signal from a base station to control a parameter of at least one element of a plurality of elements of a reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the parameter comprises information indicating a phase angle; and

controlling the parameter of the at least one element of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device based on the control signal, wherein the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are aligned as a one dimensional uniform array, and each element of the plurality of elements is individually programmable.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein, in response to the control signal comprising φ c , the reconfigurable intelligent surface device applies a coding vector [1, e jφ c ,e j2φ c , . . . ,e j(N S −1)φc ] to the plurality of elements, and φ c is greater than zero.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises, in response to the at least one element being only programmable to a plurality of states with each state of the plurality of states having a different angle, selecting an angle closest in value to a value in the coding vector.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein elements of the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are numbered sequentially.

11 . The base station of claim 6 , wherein, in response to the control signal comprising φ c , the reconfigurable intelligent surface device applies a coding vector [1, e jφ c ,e j2φ c , . . . ,e j(N S −1)φc ] to the plurality of elements, and φ c is greater than zero.

12 . The base station of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the base station to, in response to the at least one element being only programmable to a plurality of states with each state of the plurality of states having a different angle, select an angle closest in value to a value in the coding vector.

13 . The base station of claim 6 , wherein elements of the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are numbered sequentially.

14 . An apparatus for performing a network function, the apparatus comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the apparatus to:

receive a control signal from a base station to control a parameter of at least one element of a plurality of elements of a reconfigurable intelligent surface device, wherein the parameter comprises information indicating a phase angle; and

control the parameter of the at least one element of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device based on the control signal, wherein the plurality of elements of the reconfigurable intelligent surface device are aligned as a one dimensional uniform array, and each element of the plurality of elements is individually programmable.