Multi-RIS-Assisted Satellite Compact Ultra-Massive Antenna Array for Massive Uplink Transmission

Abstract

High-capacity satellite network is the cornerstone of future space-air-ground integrated networks. However, the satellite uplink transmissions still face critical challenges, including severe path loss, complex multi-user interference, and payload constraints. Recently, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) and Fluid Antenna Systems (FAS) have shown promise for satellite communications through their dynamic signal reconfiguration. This paper proposes a multi-RIS-assisted satellite Compact Ultra-Massive Antenna Array (CUMA) architecture for multi-user satellite uplink transmission. Specifically, we deploy multiple RISs on the terrestrial side to separate interfering Line-of-Sight (LoS) channels via optimized phase shifts, and adopt a CUMA receiver on the satellite to further mitigate interference through FAS port selection. To solve a sum-rate maximization problem, we alternately optimize FAS port selection using a Forward-Backward Greedy Selection (FBGS) algorithm and RIS phase shifts based on Fractional Programming (FP). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to jointly optimize multi-RIS and CUMA in a satellite uplink context, where strong LoS and extreme path loss fundamentally distinguish the design from terrestrial counterparts. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed architecture across frequency bands. At 6 GHz, our scheme achieves 181% and 32% rate gains over fixed antennas and traditional CUMA schemes, respectively, while the gains also reach 138% and 27% at 26 GHz, illustrating superiority in both interference-limited and noise-limited regimes.