Intelligent surface (IS) is envisioned as a promising technology for the sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks, which can effectively reconfigure the wireless propagation environment via dynamically controllable signal reflection/transmission. In particular, integrating passive intelligent surface (IS) into the base station (BS) is a novel solution to enhance the wireless network throughput and coverage both cost-effectively and energyefficiently. In this article, we provide an overview of IS-integrated BSs for wireless networks, including their motivations, practical architectures, and main design issues. Moreover, numerical results are presented to compare the performance of different IS-integrated BS architectures as well as the conventional BS without IS. Finally, promising directions are pointed out to stimulate future research on IS-BS/terminal integration in wireless networks.

翻译：智能表面（IS）被视作第六代（6G）无线网络的一项前景广阔的技术，它能够通过动态可控的信号反射/传输，有效重构无线传播环境。特别是将无源智能表面（IS）集成到基站（BS）中，是一种以高成本效益和高能效方式提升无线网络吞吐量与覆盖范围的新型解决方案。本文概述了面向无线网络的IS融合基站，包括其动机、实际架构及主要设计问题。此外，本文通过数值结果比较了不同IS融合基站架构以及传统无IS基站的性能。最后，本文指出了若干有前景的研究方向，以推动未来无线网络中IS与基站/终端融合的进一步研究。