  Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-empowered communication is one of
the promising physical layer enabling technologies for the sixth generation
(6G) wireless networks due to their unprecedented capabilities in shaping the
wireless communication environment. RISs are modeled as passive objects that
can not transmit or receive wireless signals. While the passiveness of these
surfaces is a key advantage in terms of power consumption and implementation
complexity, it limits their capability to interact with the other active
components in the network. Specifically, unlike conventional base stations
(BSs), which actively identify themselves to user equipment (UEs) by
periodically sending pilot signals, RISs need to be detected from the UE side.
This paper proposes a novel RIS identification (RIS- ID) scheme, enabling UEs
to detect and uniquely identify RISs in their surrounding environment.
Furthermore, to assess the proposed RIS-ID scheme, we propose two performance
metrics: the false and miss detection probabilities. These probabilities are
analytically derived and verified through computer simulations, revealing the
effectiveness of the proposed RIS-ID scheme under different operating
scenarios.
