Do linear cascaded models of RIS-parametrized
wireless channels violate wave physics?
Antonin Rabault and Philipp del Hougne
Univ Rennes, CNRS, IETR - UMR 6164, F-35000, Rennes, France
Corresponding Author: Philipp del Hougne (philipp.del-hougne@univ-rennes1.fr)
Abstract—Because the linear input-output relation of a linear
scattering system depends, in general, in a non-linear manner
on the scattering system’s structural parameters, we question
the rationale behind the use of cascaded models of RIS-
parametrized wireless channels that impose by construction
a linear dependence of the wireless channel on the RIS
configuration. In particular, using a physics-compliant end-to-end
channel model, we demonstrate the importance of reverberation-
induced long-range mesoscopic correlations under rich-scattering
conditions that yield a clearly non-linear RIS-parametrization
of the wireless channel. We further show that neglecting these
correlations can yield quantitatively and qualitatively incorrect
performance predictions. Our results imply that important
envisioned 5G and 6G deployment scenarios of RISs at sub-
6 GHz or millimeter-wave frequencies (e.g., machine-type
communication in smart factories) should not be planned and
evaluated using the common linear cascaded models of how the
wireless channel is parametrized by the RIS.
Index Terms—Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface, Channel
Model, Rich Scattering, Multipath Propagation.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) constitute a
beyond-Shannon paradigm in wireless communications
because they enable us to shape the wireless channel itself,
as opposed to being restricted to only controlling the input
wavefront radiated by the transmitting antennas. While linear
scattering systems have a linear input-output relation, the latter
(i.e., the wireless channel) depends, in general, in a non-linear
manner on the structural configuration of the scattering system.
RISs as part of a “smart radio environment” do not control
the input wavefront but the structural properties of the radio
environment, and hence the wireless channel must depend,
in general, in a non-linear manner on the RIS configuration.
Yet, the current signal-processing literature models RIS-
parametrized wireless channels as linear cascades of the type
H = HRX−RIS ΦRIS HRIS−TX , where HRIS−TX describes
the propagation from the transmitter (TX) to the RIS, ΦRIS
describes the wavefront manipulation performed by the RIS,
and HRX−RIS describes the propagation from the RIS to the
receiver (RX). Naturally, the following question arises: to what
extent are such linear cascaded models compatible with the
reality of wave physics? Reliance on unphysical models can
potentially result in completely wrong performance predictions
and hence determining if, and under what conditions, the
currently used linear cascaded models are applicable has
potentially wide-reaching consequences.
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II. O RIGINS OF N ON -L INEAR PARAMETRIZATION
We have identified at least three distinct mechanisms that
give rise to a non-linear parametrization of a wireless channel
through a RIS:
A. Proximity-Induced Mutual Coupling
RIS-elements can be interpreted as backscatter antennas,
and hence one can expect significant mutual coupling to
arise between RIS elements that are in close proximity of
each other [1]. This source of non-linear parametrization has
received some attention in the RIS community recently [2],
[3]. However, experimental RIS prototypes often use half-
wavelength sized RIS elements. Half-wavelength or larger
separations between RIS elements seem to strongly suppress
any significant proximity-induced mutual coupling effects
and recent experiments achieve good performance without
accounting for proximity-induced mutual coupling [4], [5].
B. Conformal RISs
RIS prototypes are to date usually planar structures, but
there is a foreseeable motivation to consider conformal RISs
in the future that can be fixed on curved walls, etc. Our
preliminary numerical investigations of such conformal RISs
(akin to the setups that we considered in Refs. [6], [7])
show that in conformal RISs some RIS elements can be
(partially) “behind” other RIS elements, as seen from the
transmitter, which inevitably can give rise to correlations
between the responses of these RIS elements, yielding a non-
linear parametrization.
C. Reverberation-Induced Long-Range Correlations
Many RIS deployment scenarios involve non-trivial radio
environments that are substantially more complex than free
space because they including scattering objects that give
rise to multipath propagation [8]. Under these conditions,
rays do not simply travel from the TX via the RIS to the
RX. Instead, the rays bounce around and can encounter
multiple RIS elements along their trajectory from the TX
to the RX. Thereby, the impact of a given RIS element
on the wireless channel is no longer independent of the
configuration of the remaining RIS elements [7]. In other
words, reverberation in rich-scattering radio environments
induces long-range mesoscopic correlations between RIS
elements. The importance of these correlations between any
two RIS elements does not predominantly depend on their
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 spatial separation. Instead, it is the dwell time of the waves III. S YSTEM M ODEL
in the radio environment that matters: the longer the rays The only physics-compliant end-to-end model of wireless
bounce around before being attenuated, the stronger will be RIS-parametrized channels that can go beyond free-space
the reverberation-induced long-range correlations. propagation (i.e., involving significant scattering) is to date,
The importance of reverberation-induced long-range to the best of our knowledge, PhysFad [6]. PhysFad describes
correlations, and the ensuing non-linearity of the wireless all wireless entities (transceivers, scattering objects, RIS
channel’s RIS parametrization, depends on the specific elements) as dipoles. Its self-consistent formalism involves
environment and the considered frequency range. 6G a matrix inversion and intrinsically accounts for all possible
networks are expected to be all-spectra integrated networks in coupling effects discussed in the previous section. Moreover,
which both the sub-6 GHz and the millimeter-wave regimes PhysFad accounts by construction for the frequency selectivity
play an important role [9]. Early experimental work on RISs in and the amplitude-phase intertwinement of the RIS-element
strongly absorbing reverberant environments in the sub-6 GHz response, and it respects causality. Further details can be found
regime achieved good performance for RSSI enhancement in Ref. [6].
despite assuming a linear RIS-parametrization [10], but it
was not investigated if the performance could have been
much better without the linearity assumption. Subsequent
experimental work aimed at analog computing with RISs in
similar strongly absorbing reverberant environments clearly
noted the deviations from the linearity assumption, and
had to take additional measures to compensate for errors
induced by assuming a linear RIS parametrization [11].
The non-linear parametrization of wireless channels is
hence significant in the sub-6 GHz regime even in weakly
reverberant indoor environments like office rooms. The
non-linear effect can be faithfully expected to be yet
much stronger in other important 5G and 6G deployment
scenarios, in particular, machine-type communication in
smart factories based on wirelessly networked robotic
systems. Factory settings involve many large and irregularly
shaped metallic surfaces that strongly scatter (not absorb)
microwaves and millimeter waves. Identifying a suitable RIS
configuration for a desired communications functionality may
require the acquisition of full context-awareness under such
rich-scattering conditions [7].
Fig. 1. Considered setup in PhysFad [6], involving 21 RIS elements, each
separated by one wavelength from its neighboring RIS elements, inside a rich-
scattering environment. The latter is an irregularly shaped enclosure which
D. Summary is filled with a few scatterers and a reflective line-of-sight block. The RSSI
between one transmitting and one receiving antenna is considered. The utilized
PhysFad parameters are summarized in Table I.
A planar RIS in free space with sufficient spacing between
the RIS elements can yield an approximately linear RIS
parametrization of the wireless channel. However, switching TABLE I
from free space to rich-scattering radio environments,
fres χ ΓL
which are important in factories, vessels, trains and indoor
TX & RX 1 1 0
environments, will gives rise to reverberation-induced long-
range correlations and hence a non-linear RIS parametrization Scat. Env. from 1 to 102 3 0
of the wireless channel. Common models of fading RIS 1 or 5 1 0
wireless channels (Rayleigh, etc.) were conceived for
conventional wireless radio environments without structural The considered setup is shown in Fig. 1 and the
parametrization. There is no simple extension of such models corresponding PhysFad parameters are summarized in
to include RIS parametrization in a physics-compliant manner. Table I. We consider a 21-element RIS whose elements are
The commonly used linear cascaded models of modern RIS- separated by one wavelength from neighboring RIS elements
parametrized fading environments impose by construction a (minimizing any proximity-induced mutual coupling).
linearity of the RIS parametrization that is not justified. We Moreover, the considered RIS is planar (removing correlations
will evidence some consequences of this shortcoming in the that could arise for conformal RISs). We should hence only
following. be left with non-linear effects due to reverberation-induced

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 Fig. 2. Illustration of the unphysical “filtered” version of PhysFad that suppresses coupling between RIS elements and the scattering environment by setting
the entries of W covered by the orange boxes to zero. This figure is adapted from Ref. [6].
long-range correlations. We can adjust the amount of rich-
scattering and reverberation by adjusting the fres parameter
of the dipoles constituting the scattering environment, as
explained in Ref. [6].
In addition, in this paper, we also present results obtained
with an unphysical modification of PhysFad that aims at
suppressing reverberation-induced long-range correlations, by
imposing zero coupling between RIS elements and the
scattering environment. This involves “filtering” of the matrix
W before it is inverted to determine H (see Ref. [6] for details
on W). This filtering is illustrated in Fig. 2.
IV. P ROTOTYPICAL C ASE S TUDY
We consider a wireless communications system comprising
a single TX antenna and a single RX antenna (see Fig. 1),
and the purpose of the RIS is to maximize the RSSI at
the operating frequency. Since there is no analytical forward
model to map the RIS configuration C to the RSSI |H(C)|
under the considered rich-scattering conditions, we use the
simple iterative Algorithm 1. Its simplicity is explicitly
desired here because the convergence behavior clearly relates
to the degree of non-linearity of the RIS parametrization
of the wireless channel H. If the RIS elements were
perfectly independent from one another, one would expect
Algorithm 1 to converge after NRIS iterations.1 If there are
significant correlations and hence a strongly non-linear RIS
parametrization, Algorithm 1 will not have converged after
NRIS iterations and running it for more iterations will continue
to yield significant further improvements of the cost function.
These properties of Algorithm 1 were already clearly seen
in sub-6 GHz experiments in Ref. [12] where the amount of
1 To be precise, the RSSI considers the absolute value of H which implies
that we are dealing with a weakly non-linear cost function, such that minimal
improvements of the cost function after NRIS iterations are possible even for
perfectly independent RIS elements. However, these further improvements are
generally very small.
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absorption was altered to control the level of rich scattering
and reverberation, and thereby implicitly the strength of
reverberation-induced long-range correlations and the degree
of non-linearity.
Algorithm 1 Binary-Constrained Optimization of NRIS -
Element RIS Configuration C to Maximize the RSSI |H(C)|.
Pick a random binary RIS configuration Ccurr .
Evaluate the corresponding cost metric Ccurr = |H(Ccurr )|.
for i = 1, 2, . . . , 5NRIS do
Define Ctemp as Ccurr but with configuration of
mod(i, NRIS )th RIS element flipped.
Evaluate the corresponding cost metric Ctemp =
|H(Ctemp )|.
if Ctemp > Ccurr then
Redefine Ccurr as Ctemp and Ccurr as Ctemp .
end
end
Output: Optimized RIS configuration Ccurr .
V. R ESULTS
We begin by confirming that the unphysical “filtered”
PhysFad model suppresses the reverberation-induced long-
range correlations, yielding the convergence behavior of
Algorithm 1 that is expected from linear cascaded channel
models. Indeed, in Fig. 3(a) we see that for low K-factors
(strong reverberation), at least 3NRIS iterations are required
(blue), whereas the convergence occurs after NRIS iterations
for lower K-factors (purple). This behavior observed with our
physics-compliant PhysFad model is in line with experimental
observations from Ref. [12]. Using the “filtered” (and hence
unphysical) PhysFad model instead does not change the
K-factor, but it does considerably impact the convergence
behavior. Indeed, we see in Fig. 3(b) that Algorithm 1
converges after NRIS iterations for all considered K-factors.
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 Fig. 3. Convergence behavior of Algorithm 1 for four different K-factors (color-coded from blue (lowest K) to purple (higher K)) in the rich-scattering
setup from Fig. 1, using the full physics-compliant PhysFad model (a), or its “filtered” unphysical version (b) that artificially suppresses reverberation-induced
long-range correlations. Each curve is averaged over 250 realizations.
These results evidence that the origin of the slow convergence
for low K-factors in Fig. 3(a) are indeed reverberation-induced
long-range correlations, and not other factors like proximity-
induced mutual coupling, since the latter is not affected by the
filtering. The filtering hence allows us to distort the physics-
compliant PhysFad model toward an unphysical model that
displays behavior that is expected from the commonly used
linear cascaded model.
Fig. 4. Average achievable RSSI enhancement η for different K-factors,
based on the full physics-compliant PhysFad model (blue) and the “filtered”
unphysical PhysFad model (red) that suppresses reverberation-induced long-
range correlations and the resulting non-linear RIS parametrization of the
wireless channel.
Next, we compare the performance analysis for RIS-
empowered RSSI enhancement η based on the physics-
compliant vs. the unphysical model in Fig. 4; η is defined
as the ratio of the averaged final RSSI to the averaged initial
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RSSI, where averaging is performed over different realizations
of the rich-scattering environment and final (initial) refers
to the use of optimized (random) RIS configurations. It
is apparent that, besides quantitative differences, there is a
very striking qualitative difference. The physics-compliant
model finds that the achievable enhancement decreases as
K gets larger. This is in line with the experimental results
from Ref. [12] and intuitively expected: under stronger
reverberation, the waves are more sensitive to the RIS
configuration2 , and hence the latter is expected to have a
stronger influence on the wireless channel. In contrast, the
unphysical model that neglects reverberation-induced long-
range correlations (akin to the commonly used linear cascaded
models) predicts the opposite trend.
VI. C ONCLUSION
We have evidenced that reverberation in rich-scattering
radio environments induces important long-range mesoscopic
correlations that result in a non-linear parametrization of the
wireless channel through the RIS. We have shown that this
effect is different from proximity-induced mutual coupling
and that neglecting this effect can yield quantitatively and
qualitatively wrong performance predictions.
While linear cascaded models of RIS-parametrized wireless
channels can be suitable for free-space operation, our
analysis shows that they appear unsuitable for analyzing
RIS deployments under rich-scattering conditions because the
linearity assumption cannot be justified under rich scattering.
Important 5G and 6G deployment scenarios that could benefit
from RISs involve indoor environments and factories, both
of which are expected to yield rich-scattering propagation
conditions at sub-6GHz and/or millimeter-wave regimes that
are incompatible with the commonly used linear cascaded
models. Future work should identify the necessary changes
2 Experimental evidence for the dependence of the wave field’s sensitivity
to perturbations on the wave’s dwell time can be found, for instance, in recent
work on object localization in Ref. [13].
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 in the design procedure of radio networks dedicated to rich-
scattering radio environments in order to suitably account for
the physical reality of wave propagation.
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