Performance Analysis of Distributed Reconfigurable-Intelligent-Surface-Assisted Air–Ground Fusion Networks with Non-Ideal Environments

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of non-ideal environmental factors, including hardware impairments, random user distributions, and imperfect channel conditions, on the performance of distributed reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted air–ground fusion networks. Using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as an aerial base station, performance metrics such as the outage probability, ergodic rate, and energy efficiency are analyzed with Nakagami-m fading channels. To highlight the superiority of RIS-assisted air–ground networks, comparisons are made with point-to-point links, amplify-and-forward (AF) relay scenarios, conventional centralized RIS deployment, and fusion networks without hardware impairments. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to validate theoretical analyses, demonstrating that in non-ideal environmental conditions, distributed RIS-assisted air–ground fusion networks outperform benchmark scenarios. This model offers some insights into the improvement of wireless communication networks in emerging smart cities.