Metasurfaces are envisaged to play a key role in next-generation wireless systems due to their powerful control over electromagnetic waves. The last decade has witnessed huge advances in this regard, shifting from static to programmable metasurfaces. The HyperSurface (HSF) paradigm takes one step further by integrating a network of controllers within the device with the aim of adding intelligence, connectivity, and autonomy. However, little is known about the traffic that this network will have to support as the target electromagnetic function or boundary conditions change. In this paper, we lay down the foundations of a methodology to characterize the workload of programmable metasurfaces and then employ it to analyze the case of beam steering HSFs. We observe that traffic is bursty and highly dependent on the position of the target. These results will enable the early-stage evaluation of intra-HSF networks, as well as the estimation of the system performance and cost.

中文翻译：

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可编程元曲面的工作负载表征

由于超表面对电磁波的强大控制，因此可以想象它们在下一代无线系统中起关键作用。过去十年见证了这方面的巨大进步，从静态过渡到可编程的元表面。HyperSurface（HSF）范例通过在设备内集成控制器网络而又迈出了一步，目的是增加智能性，连通性和自主性。但是，关于目标电磁功能或边界条件变化时该网络将必须支持的流量的信息知之甚少。在本文中，我们为表征可编程超表面的工作量奠定了方法的基础，然后将其用于分析光束转向HSF的情况。我们发现流量是突发性的，并且高度依赖于目标的位置。