One of the most intensively developed areas of wireless telecommunications in recent years is the practical application of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). This paper presents the results of experimental research conducted at 5.5 GHz using a 16 × 16 element RIS to verify the accuracy of the Tang, Zheng, and Jeong theoretical models, which describe signal behavior upon reflection from an RIS. In contrast to purely simulation-based papers, this study utilizes different antenna types in a laboratory environment representative of a typical office space. The performance of the models is evaluated across distances of 1 m, 1.5 m, and 2 m through a comprehensive quantitative analysis. The study reports core error metrics, including mean and median root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and sum of squared differences (SSD), as well as the Interquartile Range (IQR) to assess modeling stability. Furthermore, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test is employed to statistically compare the modeling accuracy.
Hatka et al. (Tue,) studied this question.