This version of Remcom’s Wireless InSite® includes propagation analysis for engineered electromagnetic surfaces (EES). EES are a class of passive metasurfaces that artificially enhance wireless coverage at microwave and mmWave frequencies via printed conductive patterns on substrates like plastic or glass. When placed on a wall, window or other structure, the scattering properties of these printed patterns redirect RF wave propagation in specific directions to augment wireless connectivity.

The ability to control the electromagnetic (EM) propagation environment is currently an important area of 6G research. Applications such as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) rely on either metasurfaces or reflect arrays, an alternative technology, to optimize wireless channels.

Wireless InSite’s X3D Model has been updated to incorporate the Ray-Optical EES Scattering Model developed by the Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC), part of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. This integration enables the modeling of passive metasurfaces that are designed to optimize wireless communication coverage by manipulating how signals propagate through a scene.

The EES capability provides a way to analyze improvements to coverage from either a static EES or a single configuration of a metasurface-based RIS. The integration of Remcom and CRC’s models offers a novel way to simulate and analyze the channel characteristics of passive EM metasurfaces in any environment, including indoor, outdoor, outdoor-to-indoor and others.