Is backscatter link stronger than direct link in reconfigurable intelligent surface-assisted system?

This letter considers integrating a backscatter link with a reconfigurable intelligent surface to enhance backscatter communication while assisting the direct communication. We derive the probability that the backscatter channel dominates in the composite channel. This probability is a useful performance measure to determine the number of reflectors. Since the exact probability lacks a closed-form solution, we develop two approximations by modeling the gain of the backscatter link with a Gaussian or Gamma distribution. We found that these approximations match well with the exact value. Importantly, with a well-designed number of reflectors, the channel gain of the backscatter link may be always stronger than that of the direct one.