Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces vs. Relaying: Differences, Similarities, and Performance Comparison

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have the potential of realizing the emerging concept of smart radio environments by leveraging the unique properties of meta-surfaces. In this article, we discuss the need and potential applications of RISs in wireless networks that operate at high-frequency bands, e.g., millimeter wave (30-100 GHz) and sub-millimeter wave (greater than 100 GHz) frequencies; we overview the technology enabler of reconfigurable meta-surfaces; we elaborate on the working principle of RISs when used as low-complexity transmitters and anomalous mirrors; and we describe promising use cases that encompass signal, interference, security, and scattering engineering. When used as anomalous mirrors, the RISs resemble multiple-antenna relay stations. Therefore, we elaborate on the key differences and similarities between RISs and relaying, and, notably, illustrate numerical results that highlight the spectral efficiency gains of RISs whose transverse size is large as compared with the wavelength of the radio wave. Finally, we discuss the key open issues that need to be addressed in order to unlock the potential of RISs, and, in particular, to unveil their ultimate performance limits and to optimize their deployment in future wireless networks.