Without requiring operational costs such as cabling and powering while maintaining reconfigurable phase-shift capability, self-sustainable reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (ssRISs) can be deployed in locations inaccessible to conventional relays or base stations, offering a novel approach to enhance wireless coverage. This study assesses the feasibility of ssRIS deployment by analyzing two harvest-and-reflect (HaR) schemes: element-splitting (ES) and time-splitting (TS). We examine how element requirements scale with key system parameters, transmit power, data rate demands, and outage constraints under both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) ssRIS-to-user equipment (UE) channels. Analytical and numerical results reveal distinct feasibility characteristics. The TS scheme demonstrates better channel hardening gain, maintaining stable element requirements across varying outage margins, making it advantageous for indoor deployments with favorable harvesting conditions and moderate data rates. However, TS exhibits an element requirement that exponentially scales to harvesting difficulty and data rate. Conversely, the ES scheme shows only linear growth with harvesting difficulty, providing better feasibility under challenging outdoor scenarios. These findings establish that TS excels in benign environments, prioritizing reliability, while ES is preferable for demanding conditions requiring operational robustness.

翻译：自持可重构智能表面（ssRISs）无需布线供电等运营成本，同时保持可重构相移能力，可部署于传统中继或基站难以覆盖的位置，为增强无线覆盖提供了新途径。本研究通过分析两种采集-反射（HaR）方案——单元分割（ES）与时间分割（TS），评估ssRIS部署的可行性。我们考察了在视距（LOS）与非视距（NLOS）ssRIS至用户设备（UE）信道下，单元数量需求如何随关键系统参数、发射功率、数据速率要求及中断约束变化。理论与数值结果揭示了不同的可行性特征：TS方案展现出更优的信道硬化增益，其单元需求在不同中断容限下保持稳定，适用于采集条件良好、数据速率适中的室内部署场景。然而，TS方案的单元需求随采集难度与数据速率呈指数级增长。相比之下，ES方案的单元需求仅随采集难度线性增长，在恶劣的室外环境中更具可行性。研究结果表明，TS方案在条件优越的环境中表现突出，侧重于可靠性；而ES方案更适合对运行鲁棒性要求严苛的挑战性场景。