44. Rethinking Wireless Repeaters

Coverage holes exist in cellular networks despite decades of wireless technology evolution, but new potential solutions are on the horizon. In this episode, Emil Björnson and Erik G. Larsson discuss network-controlled repeaters, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and half-duplex relays. Network-controlled repeaters have attracted particular attention from 3GPP in recent years; the conversation focuses on how these can create strong propagation paths through signal amplification. Implementation challenges related to synchronization, band selectivity, and stability are also covered. A detailed overview is provided in “Achieving Distributed MIMO Performance with Repeater-Assisted Cellular Massive MIMO” (https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.00142). Technical details can be found in: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.01074 and https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.17908  Music: On the Verge by Joseph McDade. Visit Erik’s website https://liu.se/en/employee/erila39 and Emil’s website https://ebjornson.com/