Metasurface-Programmable Wireless Network-on-Chip

Abstract: We introduce the concept of smart radio environments, currently intensely studied for wireless communication in metasurface-programmable meter-scaled environments (e.g., inside rooms), on the chip scale. Wireless networks-on-chips (WNoCs) are a candidate technology to improve inter-core communication on chips but current proposals are plagued by a dilemma: either the received signal is weak, or it is significantly reverberated such that the on-off-keying modulation speed must be throttled. Here, we overcome this vexing problem by endowing the wireless on-chip environment with in situ programmability which allows us to shape the channel impulse response (CIR); thereby, we can impose a pulse-like CIR shape despite strong multipath propagation and without entailing a reduced received signal strength. First, we design and characterize a programmable metasurface suitable for integration in the on-chip environment ("on-chip reconfigurable intelligent surface"). Second, we optimize its configuration to equalize selected wireless on-chip channels "over the air". Third, by conducting a rigorous communication analysis, we evidence the feasibility of significantly higher modulation speeds with shaped CIRs. Our results introduce a programmability paradigm to WNoCs which boosts their competitiveness as complementary on-chip interconnect solution.