Novel Selection Schemes for Multi-RIS-Assisted Fluid Antenna Systems

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of a multi-reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted fluid antenna system (FAS). In this system, a single-antenna transmitter communicates with a receiver equipped with a planar FAS through multiple RISs in the absence of a direct link. To enhance the system performance, we propose two novel selection schemes: \textit{Max-Max} and \textit{Max-Sum}. In particular, the \textit{Max-Max} scheme selects the best combination of a single RIS and a single fluid antenna (FA) port that offers the maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the receiver. On the other hand, the \textit{Max-Sum} scheme selects one RIS while activating all FA ports providing the highest overall SNR. We conduct a detailed performance analysis of the proposed system under Nakagami-$m$ fading channels. First, we derive the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the SNR for both selection schemes. The derived CDF is then used to obtain approximate theoretical expressions for the outage probability (OP) and the delay outage rate (DOR). Next, a high-SNR asymptotic analysis is carried out to provide further insights into the system performance in terms of diversity and coding gains. Finally, the analytical results are validated through extensive Monte Carlo simulations, demonstrating their accuracy and providing a comprehensive understanding of the system's performance.