Sum Rate Maximization for 6G Beyond Diagonal RIS-Assisted Multi-Cell Transportation Systems

Zhang, Chi, Khan, Wali Ullah, Bashir, Ali Kashif ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7595-2522, Dutta, Ashit Kumar, Rehman, Ateeq Ur and Dabel, Maryam M. Al (2025) Sum Rate Maximization for 6G Beyond Diagonal RIS-Assisted Multi-Cell Transportation Systems. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. ISSN 1524-9050

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Abstract

With the rapid evolution toward data-intensive applications and sustainable urban mobility, upcoming sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks must deliver enhanced coverage, high spectral efficiency, and energy optimization across densely populated areas. However, achieving these requirements poses significant challenges due to the dynamic nature of urban environments, high interference in multi-cell systems, and limitations in conventional passive beamforming technologies. To address these challenges, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is considered a highly promising approach for enabling and improving 6G wireless communications. This is because it has the ability to efficiently manipulate wireless channels at a lower cost. Considerable study has focused on the utilization of conventional diagonal RIS, in which each individual RIS component is linked to its own ground load but not interconnected with other elements. Nevertheless, the uncomplicated structure of classical RIS imposes restrictions on its ability to manipulate passive beamforming. In this study, we consider beyond diagonal RIS (BD-RIS) in the multi-cell transportation system, which goes beyond using diagonal phase shift matrices. In particular, we provide a new optimization framework to maximize the sum rate of BD-RIS assisted multi-cell transportation system by optimizing the power allocation of the base station and phase shift design of BD-RIS in each cell. We employ the block coordinate descent method to transform the original optimization problem and achieve a local optimal based on standard convex approaches. Numerical results demonstrate the benefits of adopting BD-RIS in multi-cell transportation systems compared to the classical RIS architecture.