Autonomous RISs and Oblivious Base Stations: The Observer Effect and its Mitigation

Autonomous reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) offer the potential to simplify deployment by reducing the need for real-time remote control between a base station (BS) and an RIS. However, we highlight two major challenges posed by autonomy. The first is implementation complexity, as autonomy requires hybrid RISs (HRISs) equipped with additional onboard hardware to monitor the propagation environment and perform local channel estimation (CHEST), a process known as probing. The second challenge, termed probe distortion, reflects a form of the observer effect: during probing, an HRIS can inadvertently alter the propagation environment, potentially disrupting the operations of other communicating devices sharing the environment. Although implementation complexity has been extensively studied, probe distortion remains largely unexplored. To further assess the potential of autonomous RISs, this paper comprehensively and pragmatically studies the fundamental trade-offs posed by these challenges collectively. In particular, we examine the robustness of an HRIS-assisted massive multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) system by considering its critical components and stringent conditions. The latter include: (a) two extremes of implementation complexity, represented by minimalist operation designs of two distinct HRIS hardware architectures, and (b) an oblivious BS that fully embraces probe distortion. To make our analysis possible, we propose a physical-layer orchestration framework that aligns HRIS and mMIMO operations. We present empirical evidence that autonomous RISs remain promising under stringent conditions and outline research directions to deepen probe distortion understanding.