Degree of freedom (DOF) is a key indicator for spatial multiplexing layers of a wireless channel. Traditionally, the channel of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) half-wavelength dipole array has a DOF that equals the antenna number. However, recent studies suggest that the DOF could be less than the antenna number when strong mutual coupling is considered. We utilize a mutual-coupling-compliant channel model to investigate the DOF of the holographic MIMO (HMIMO) channel and give a upper bound of the DOF with strong mutual coupling. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that a dense array can support more DOF per unit aperture as compared with a half-wavelength MIMO system.

As a critical candidate technology for 5G-advanced and 6G, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) have received extensive attention from academia and industry. RIS has the promising features of passiveness, reconfigurable ability, and low cost. RIS channel estimation faces the challenges of high matrix dimension, passive estimation, and spatial-wideband effect. In this article, we analyze the impact of the spatial-wideband effect on the RIS channel to account for the propagation delay across RIS elements and estimate sparse channel parameters such as angle and gain through a super-resolution compressive sensing (CS) algorithm. The simulation results explore the influence of the spatial-wideband effect on the RIS channel and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.