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ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies, Volume 1 (2020), Issue 1




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          For the API, we explored the means to interpret a meta-  rials and their engineering applications,” Advanced
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          cessfully conceal the physical layer of the metamaterial,
                                                                   smart matter by active mechanical metamaterials,”
          and only expose the essential parameters for configuring
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          an operation. In light of this definition, the API is capa-
          ble of instructing its environment to steer, focus, absorb  [7] C. Liaskos, A. Tsioliaridou, A. Pitsillides, S. Ioan-
          or split the incoming signals through a simple interface,  nidis, and I. Akyildiz, “Using any surface to real-
          without any reference to the underlying physics.         ize a new paradigm for wireless communications,”
          The Metamaterial Middleware was developed by means       Commun. ACM, vol. 61, pp. 30–33, 2018.
          of various theoretical and computational tools, includ-
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          ing analytical algorithms that assess the scattering re-
                                                                   S. Ioannidis, and I. Akyildiz, “On the network-
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                                                                   layer modeling and configuration of programmable
          a unit cell response, and experimental modules that
                                                                   wireless environments,” IEEE/ACM Trans. Netw.,
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          bust characterization methodology, supporting a large
                                                                [9] I. F. Akyildiz and J. M. Jornet, “The internet
          set of metamaterial operations with no restriction on the
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          prospect of applying different optimization algorithms
          for each stage of the metamaterial characterization pro-  [10] S. B. Glybovski, S. A. Tretyakov, P. A. Belov, Y. S.
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          ployed successfully within a unified framework.           1–72, 2016.
                                                               [11] H.-T. Chen, A. J. Taylor, and N. Yu, “A review
          ACKNOWLEDGMENT
                                                                   of metasurfaces: Physics and applications,” Rep.
          This work was supported by the European Union’s Hori-    Prog. Phys., vol. 79, no. 7, pp. 076 401(1–40), 2016.
          zon 2020 research and innovation programme-project
                                                               [12] C. Huang, C. Zhang, J. Yang, B. Sun, B. Zhao, and
          C4IIoT, GA EU833828.   The authors also acknowl-
                                                                   X. Luo, “Reconfigurable metasurface for multifunc-
          edge FETOPEN-RIA project VISORSURF. All pre-
                                                                   tional control of electromagnetic waves,” Adv. Opt.
          sented software modules were conceived, designed and
                                                                   Mater., vol. 5, no. 22, pp. 1 700 485(1–6), 2017.
          implemented in full by the Foundation for Research and
                                                                    ¨
                                                                       ¨
          Technology-Hellas (FORTH) and G. Pyrialakos served   [13] O. Ozdogan, E. Bj¨ornson, and E. Larsson, “In-
          as the lead developer.                                   telligent reflecting surfaces: Physics, propagation,
                                                                   and pathloss modeling,” IEEE Wireless Commun.
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