An Automated Over-the-Air Radiated Testing Platform for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface

In the relentless quest to enhance wireless communication capabilities, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has emerged as a technology of immense promise. Armed with the beamforming capabilities, RIS can intelligently engineer and control wireless propagation environments. Consequently, an in-depth knowledge of RIS radiation characteristics has become important. This paper presents an automated over-the-air (OTA) radiated testing platform designed for characterizing RIS radiation. Operating in an anechoic chamber setup in a fully automated manner, the platform system utilizes multiple probes to expedite testing and employs a vector network analyzer (VNA) for testing signal measurement and recording. Controlled by a programmed controller, the system efficiently manages RIS operation with predefined code-book while the controller directs the system to conduct radiation measurements. To validate the designed testing platform system, RIS beam steering radiation measurements were conducted using a 2-bit 10 x 10 RIS. The measured results demonstrate the capabilities and reliability of the automated testing system.