Mobile networks often slow down or drop in places where signals cannot reach properly. Instead of building more towers or expensive infrastructure, researchers at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) have developed Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) — panels that act like ‘smart walls’ — to redirect or focus signals. This makes networks faster and energy-efficient and is expected to play an important role in upcoming 6G systems while also improving existing 5G-advanced networks.
Plug-and-play
One of the biggest advantages of RIS is that it can be easily added to existing 5G-Advanced networks as these panels can be mounted on walls or poles to fix coverage gaps in hotspots, working like a plug-and-play upgrade without major infrastructure changes.
For future 6G deployments, RIS can be built directly into the network design, enabling smarter beam management and optimized performance.
In both cases, it allows telecom operators to provide better coverage with fewer towers, cutting both costs and energy use.
