  This paper studies the physical layer security (PLS) of a vehicular network
employing a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). RIS technologies are
emerging as an important paradigm for the realisation of smart radio
environments, where large numbers of small, low-cost and passive elements,
reflect the incident signal with an adjustable phase shift without requiring a
dedicated energy source. Inspired by the promising potential of RIS-based
transmission, we investigate two vehicular network system models: One with
vehicle-to-vehicle communication with the source employing a RIS-based access
point, and the other model in the form of a vehicular adhoc network (VANET),
with a RIS-based relay deployed on a building. Both models assume the presence
of an eavesdropper, to investigate the average secrecy capacity of the
considered systems. Monte-Carlo simulations are provided throughout to validate
the results. The results show that performance of the system in terms of the
secrecy capacity is affected by the location of the RIS-relay and the number of
RIS cells. The effect of other system parameters such as source power and
eavesdropper distances are also studied.
