  Ensuring the precision of channel modeling plays a pivotal role in the
development of wireless communication systems, and this requirement remains a
persistent challenge within the realm of networks supported by Reconfigurable
Intelligent Surfaces (RIS). Achieving a comprehensive and reliable
understanding of channel behavior in RIS-aided networks is an ongoing and
complex issue that demands further exploration. In this paper, we empirically
validate a recently-proposed impedance-based RIS channel model that accounts
for the mutual coupling at the antenna array and precisely models the presence
of scattering objects within the environment as a discrete array of loaded
dipoles. To this end, we exploit real-life channel measurements collected in an
office environment to demonstrate the validity of such a model and its
applicability in a practical scenario. Finally, we provide numerical results
demonstrating that designing the RIS configuration based upon such model leads
to superior performance as compared to reference schemes.
