Reflections over the Sea: Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for Maritime Self-Powered Communications

Abstract

Maritime communication is becoming a vital component of 6G networks, driven by the rapid expansion of the maritime economy. However, existing technologies face critical challenges in signal coverage, availability, and robustness, especially under harsh sea conditions. This paper proposes a novel framework for the maritime Internet-of-Things (IoT) communications that leverages the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) mounted on offshore infrastructures, such as wind turbines, to enhance coverage and reliability. To capture dynamic maritime environment, a near-ocean-surface channel model is developed considering the impact of sea waves. In addition, a wave energy harvesting (EH) system is designed to self-power IoT sensors for data acquisition, processing, and transmission. To support real-time adaptation, channel state information is continuously measured to optimize RIS reflection parameters and maximize multi-user communication rates. Simulation results show that the proposed system significantly improves IoT communication performance by over 20%, under harsh sea conditions.