Next-generation applications such as eXtended Reality (XR), digital twins, holography, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), and the Internet of Everything (IoE) demand ultra-high data rates, ultra-low latency, and massive connectivity, driving the evolution o...
Next-generation applications such as eXtended Reality (XR), digital twins, holography, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), and the Internet of Everything (IoE) demand ultra-high data rates, ultra-low latency, and massive connectivity, driving the evolution of wireless networks beyond 5G. While migration to higher frequency bands enables wider bandwidths, it also exacerbates propagation issues such as severe path loss and signal blockage, resulting in persistent coverage holes. Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) have emerged as a cost- and energy- efficient solution by intelligently manipulating the wireless environment to establish virtual line-of-sight links. Among various architectures, the 1-bit RIS is particularly attractive for practical deployment due to its low hardware complexity and digital control. However, its widespread adoption has been hindered by the quantization lobe problem under plane-wave incidence, which generates undesired beams of the same magnitude as the main lobe. This thesis proposes and experimentally validates a 1-bit pre-phased RIS capable of both single- and multi-beam scanning while suppressing quantization lobes. A slot-coupled patch unit cell was designed with built-in pre-phase offsets, enabling destructive interference of quantization lobes without the need for multi-bit or analog circuitry. The fabricated 16 × 16 RIS prototype was thoroughly evaluated. Anechoic chamber measurements confirmed robust single-beam steering from −45° to +45° and multi-beam generation at target angles (−45°, +30°), (−30°, +15°), and ( − 15°, +45°), all free from quantization lobes. Furthermore, communication experiments using a commercial 5G signal in a non-line-of-sight environment demonstrated substantial performance gains, including up to 20.9 dB and 15.3 dB for single/multi-beam configuration improvement in received power respectively, throughput increase to 459 Mbits/s, and significant error vector magnitude (EVM) reduction. This research makes three primary contributions to the field of RIS. First, by applying pre-phasing, it proposes for the first time an RIS capable of single/multi- beam scanning using only 1-bit phase control, and it includes communication experiments not previously conducted on pre-phased RISs. Finally, a methodology for selecting phase values for a discrete pre-phasing scheme is presented, accompanied by an analysis of radiation patterns based on different pre-phase distributions. Collectively, these contributions bridge the gap between theoretical RIS concepts and field-ready implementations, providing a foundation for cost- effective adoption in 5G, 6G, and future wireless systems.