NR-Surface: NextG-ready Microwave-reconfigurable mmWave Metasurface

Explore a groundbreaking 16-minute conference talk from USENIX NSDI '24 on NR-Surface, the first real-time reconfigurable metasurface fully compliant with the NR standard for mmWave coverage expansion. Delve into the innovative solutions presented by researchers from KAIST to address challenges in pervasive deployment, including meeting tight NR synchronization requirements and achieving real-time wireless reconfiguration while maintaining long battery life. Learn about the novel NarrowBand Packet Unit (NBPU) for low-power synchronization and reconfiguration, as well as the design of a highly responsive, low-leakage metasurface optimized for low-duty cycled operation. Discover the prototype's end-to-end evaluation using NR BS built on srsRAN, showcasing diverse usage scenarios such as multiple NR-Surface per BS, multiple UE per NR-Surface, and 3D beamforming. Gain insights into the efficacy of NR-Surface in around-the-corner UE evaluations under various user mobility patterns and dynamic blockage conditions, demonstrating significant signal gains.