Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) offer programmable control of radio propagation for future wireless systems. For configuration, geometry-driven analytical approaches are appealing for their simplicity and real-time operation, but their performance in challenging environments such as industrial halls with dense multipath and metallic scattering is not well established. To this end, we present a measurement-based evaluation of geometry-driven RIS beam steering in a large industrial hall using a 5 GHz RIS prototype. A novel RIS configuration is proposed in which four patch antennas are mounted in close proximity in front of the RIS to steer the incident field and enable controlled reflection. For this setup, analytically computed, quantized configurations are implemented. Two-dimensional received power maps from two measurement areas reveal consistent, spatially selective focusing. Configurations optimized near the receiver produce clear power maxima, while steering to offset locations triggers a rapid 20-30 dB reduction. With increasing RIS-receiver distance, elevation selectivity broadens due to finite-aperture and geometric constraints, while azimuth steering remains robust. These results confirm the practical viability of geometry-driven RIS beam steering in industrial environments and support its use for spatial field control and localization under non-ideal propagation.
Industrial wireless networks are facing increasingly stringent performance requirements, driven by applications that require ultra-high reliability and very low end-to-end delay with tight latency bounds [1]. In large production halls, radio propagation is strongly shaped by dense multipath, extensive metallic infrastructure, and highly reflective surfaces. Careful radio planning and site-specific optimization can mitigate many effects in static environments, but reconfigurable and matrix manufacturing [2] create dynamic layouts that challenge conventional planning. In such environments, link characteristics may vary frequently over time, reducing the predictability and long-term effectiveness of static beamforming and pre-planned wireless configurations [3]. Accordingly, there is growing interest in methods that provide dynamic, environment-level control over wireless propagation. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) have gained traction as a means to shape electromagnetic propagation in future sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems [4], [5]. By enabling programmable control over the reflection properties of large surfaces, RISs can improve coverage, robustness, and energy efficiency [6], [7], particularly in environments that are difficult to influence through conventional infrastructure. Interest in RIS-assisted systems also extends beyond communication to sensing-related applications such as localization, spatial field shaping, and environment-aware signal processing [8]- [10].
A central practical requirement is the ability to compute RIS configurations efficiently. In particular, geometry-based analytical channel models are attractive in this context because they provide low-complexity and real-time-capable optimization with clear physical interpretability. However, such models are typically derived under idealizing assumptions (e.g., free-space propagation, simplified reflection behavior, incomplete environment knowledge). Industrial shop floors are often dominated by non-line-of-sight (NLOS) components, uncontrolled scattering, and dense multipath propagation. In such environments, it remains unclear whether configurations derived purely from geometric models can deliver consistent performance in practice. In particular, it is uncertain whether these configurations still provide spatially localized and reliable control of the received field once deployed on real hardware.
This paper investigates this question through a measurement-based study in a representative industrial production hall. We focus on the end-to-end effectiveness of model-driven, geometry-based RIS beam steering under strongly non-ideal radio propagation. Specifically, we evaluate whether analytically computed RIS configurations yield spatially selective and repeatable field focusing when deployed directly on a hardware RIS prototype in the presence of severe multipath and metallic scattering.
Several experimental studies have examined the validity of analytical RIS channel models using hardware prototypes in controlled indoor environments. In [11], a geometry-based RIS channel model is evaluated in an indoor setting by comparing analytically optimized configurations with measurements, revealing deviations attributable to hardware impairments and modeling simplifications. Similarly, [12] investigates specific model assumptions through measurements in an anechoic chamber, showing that non-perpendicular reflection angles introduce attenuation and phase effects that are not captured by ideal free-space models.
In contrast to these works, which primarily validate or refine analytical models under controlled indoor propagation conditions, the present work assesses the practical effectiveness of geometry-based RIS beam steering in a realistic, large industrial environment. The emphasis is on experimentally quantifying spatial controllability and repeatability using measured two-dimensional field distributions.
This paper presents a measurement-based assessment of model-driven RIS beam steering in an industrial production hall. We conduct an extensive measurement campaign using a 5 GHz RIS prototype with binary phase control and a densely discretized spatial measurement grid. We introduce a new transmitter (Tx)-RIS hardware configuration in which four patch antennas are mounted directly in front of the RIS to illuminate the surface and steer the transmitted field toward it, enabling controlled reflection and wavefront manipulation for the experiments. For each grid position, RIS configurations are computed from geometry using an analytical method and deployed without feedback or environment-specific calibration. Based on the resulting two-dimensional received power maps, we characterize the degree of spatial field control achievable with RIS beam steering under realistic industrial radio conditions. The results show that geometry-based beam steering can produce effective and repeatable spatial focusing despite severe multipath an
This content is AI-processed based on open access ArXiv data.