Rahil Alad, Sagar Kavaiya, Rizwan Alad, Narendrakumar Chauhan, Purvang Dalal | International Journal of Broadband Cellular Communication | Vol 11, Issue 02 | ISSN: 2455-8532
Abstract
Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) provide programmable control over wireless signal propagation and are emerging as a promising technology for enhancing the reliability, energy efficiency, coverage, and physical-layer security of sixth generation (6G) wireless networks. This paper presents a unified simulation-based performance evaluation of conventional SISO, 4G SIMO, and 6G multi-antenna communication systems, followed by an RIS-assisted reliability and security analysis under Rayleigh fading conditions. The simulation results demonstrate that antenna diversity significantly improves bit error rate (BER) performance, particularly in the moderate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region, although practical system impairments may introduce a high-SNR error floor. The incorporation of a 16-element RIS further shifts the BER curve toward lower SNR values, providing a substantial reliability improvement compared with the conventional SISO link. In addition, the physical-layer security gain increases considerably with RIS size, reaching approximately 320%, 400%, and 482% for 16, 32, and 64 reflecting elements, respectively, while showing diminishing incremental improvement at larger configurations. A radar-chart-based comparative assessment also demonstrates simultaneous enhancements in SNR, throughput, BER performance, and transmit-power efficiency. Overall, the results suggest that RIS configurations containing approximately 32–64 elements provide a balanced operating region and offer practical design guidance for future secure and energy-efficient RIS- assisted 6G networks.
Keywords - Reconfigurable intelligent surface, 6G, bit error rate, Rayleigh fading, physical-layer security, SIMO, SISO, throughput
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How to cite this article
@article{AladR2026,
author = {Rahil Alad and Sagar Kavaiya and Rizwan Alad and Narendrakumar Chauhan and Purvang Dalal},
title = {RIS-Assisted 6G Wireless Communication: BER, Security Gain and Multi-Metric Performance Analysis},
journal = {International Journal of Broadband Cellular Communication},
year = {2026},
volume = {11},
number = {02},
issn = {2455-8532},
url = {https://journalspub.com/publication/ijbcc/article=27687}
}