Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Assisted Massive MIMO: Favorable Propagation, Channel Hardening, and Rank Deficiency

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) are two promising technologies for 5G-and-beyond wireless networks, capable of providing large array gain and multiuser spatial multiplexing. Without requiring additional frequency bands, those technologies offer significant improvements in both spectral and energy efficiency by simultaneously serving many users. The performance analysis of an RIS-assisted massive MIMO system as a function of channel statistics relies heavily on fundamental properties, including favorable propagation, channel hardening, and rank deficiency. The coexistence of both direct and indirect links results in aggregated channels, whose properties are the main concerns of this “Lecture Notes” article. For practical systems with a finite number of antennas and engineered scattering elements of the RIS, we evaluate the corresponding deterministic metrics, with Rayleigh fading channels as a typical example.