Wireless Network Coding With Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces

Conventional wireless techniques are becoming inadequate for beyond-5G networks due to latency and bandwidth considerations. To improve the error performance of communication systems, we propose physical layer network coding (PNC) in an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-assisted environment. We consider IRS-aided butterfly network, where algorithm obtaining optimal IRS phases. Analytic expressions bit rate (BER) derived. Numerical results demonstrate that proposed scheme significantly improves BER performance. For instance, at relay presence a 32-element is three orders magnitudes less than without IRS.