Research Projects

The Indian Government's smart city concept is being supported by a project that explores the use of intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs) to reconfigure wireless propagation paths, delivering green and sustainable wireless connectivity beyond 5G communications. IRSs are engineered two-dimensional surfaces with passive elements that can be controlled at individual or collective levels, providing flexibility for designing a smart radio environment in a smart city. This approach can be configured for low cost and power-efficient communication, making the smart city ecosystem more controllable and adaptive. The project aligns with the Department of Science and Technology's research portfolio in ICT, Digital Economy, and Energy, focusing on Digital Signal Processing and Engineering sciences. IRS-assisted communication offers novel application scenarios and challenges in signal processing and optimization. The new electromagnetic properties of IRS-assisted systems require changes to existing discrete signal processing models and reexamination of classical system models. The project aims to design algorithms for creating smart radio environments that take advantage of the scalability, spectral efficiency, resiliency, and energy efficiency of IRSs. This will maximize national impact by innovating across DST's cross-ICT priorities and main research areas, such as pervasive computing and energy demand reduction in the built environment.

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