Performance Analysis of Intelligent Reflecting Surface-aided NR-V2X Sidelink Communications

Intelligent Reflective Surfaces (IRSs) enable controlling the radio propagation environment to enhance wireless communications and are particularly relevant for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications. This paper explores the integration of IRSs for virtual line-of-sight (VLOS) propagation in urban vehicle platoons that operate with New Radio (NR)-V2X mode 2 sidelink communications and proposes a semi-analytical framework to assess the performance of such systems. The framework considers the availability of resources, the number of interference vehicles, and their relative positions. A Nakagami-Lognormal composite channel model is assumed to describe the propagation environment. This approach provides a cost-effective and accurate estimate of packet success rates, facilitating optimal configuration and parameter adjustments for vehicle platoons. We demonstrate that under typical inter-vehicle distances and with large numbers of vehicles, VLOS communication via IRS can even surpass the performance of conventional Line-of-Sight (LOS) scenarios.