The reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has received a lot of interest because of its capacity to reconfigure the wireless communication environment in a cost- and energy-efficient way. However, the realistic power consumption modeling and measurement validation of RIS has received far too little attention. Therefore, in this work, we model the power consumption of RIS and conduct measurement validations using various RISs to fill this vacancy. Firstly, we propose a practical power consumption model of RIS. The RIS hardware is divided into three basic parts: the FPGA control board, the drive circuits, and the RIS unit cells. The power consumption of the first two parts is modeled asPstaticand that of the last part is modeled asPunits. Expressions ofPstaticandPunitsvary amongst different types of RISs. Secondly, we conduct measurements on various RISs to validate the proposed model. Five different RISs including the PIN diode, varactor diode, and RF switch types are measured, and measurement results validate the generality and applicability of the proposed power consumption model of RIS. Finally, we summarize the measurement results and discuss the approaches to achieve the low-power-consumption design of RIS-assisted wireless communication systems.

Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) offer an entirely new route to alter the propagation properties of electromagnetic waves and thus control their reflection, refraction, and scattering features in arbitrary manners. Such physical attributes are perceived to bring about fundamental influence on the modern wireless communication system due to the possibilities to establish artificial and controllable propagation environments for radio signals, which no longer rely on the complex encoding, decoding, and other signal processing techniques. Recent studies reveal that the wave manipulation is not the only skill of the RISs. With the rapid developments of space–time digital metasurface and information metasurface, there has been increasing attention focused on the information manipulation via these artificial surfaces. In this article, we provide an overview of the theoretical models of the space–time digital metasurface and information metasurface, the mechanisms of wavefront shaping, and the signal modulations in space and time domains during the wave–matter interactions. We will also address some practical issues during implementations of the reconfigurable intelligent metasurfaces and the associated hardware architectures at microwave frequencies to realize simplified radio frequency transmitters. Several modulation schemes and the corresponding demonstration systems are introduced to illustrate the powerful abilities of the reconfigurable intelligent metasurfaces. Potential research directions of this technique are briefly discussed for their potential applications in future wireless networks.