Space information networks (SINs) are facing an ever increasing thirst for high-speed and high-capacity seamless data transmission due to the integration of ground, air, and space communications. However, this imposes a new paradigm on the architecture design of the integrated SIN. Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and mobile edge computing (MEC) are the most promising techniques, conceived to improve communication and computation capability by reconfiguring the wireless propagation environment and offloading. Hence, converging RISs and MEC in SINs is becoming an effort to reap the double benefits of computation and communication. In this article, we propose an RIS-assisted collaborative MEC architecture for SINs and discuss its implementation. Then we present its potential benefits, major challenges, and feasible applications. Subsequently, we study different cases to evaluate the system data rate and latency. Finally, we conclude with a list of open issues in this research area.

中文翻译：

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用于空间信息网络的融合可重构智能表面和移动边缘计算


由于地面、空中和空间通信的融合，空间信息网络（SIN）面临着对高速、大容量无缝数据传输日益增长的需求。然而，这给集成 SIN 的架构设计带来了新的范式。最近，可重构智能表面（RIS）和移动边缘计算（MEC）是最有前途的技术，旨在通过重新配置无线传播环境和卸载来提高通信和计算能力。因此，将 RIS 和 MEC 融合到 SIN 中正在成为一种获得计算和通信双重好处的努力。在本文中，我们提出了一种用于 SIN 的 RIS 辅助协作 MEC 架构，并讨论了其实现。然后我们介绍它的潜在好处、主要挑战和可行的应用。随后，我们研究不同的案例来评估系统数据速率和延迟。最后，我们列出了该研究领域中尚未解决的问题。