Assume the communication between a source and a destination is supported by a large reflecting surface (LRS), which consists of an array of reflector elements with adjustable reflection phases. By knowing the phase shifts induced by the composite propagation channels through the LRS, the phases of the reflectors can be configured such that the signals combine coherently at the destination, which improves the communication performance. However, perfect phase estimation or high-precision configuration of the reflection phases is unfeasible. In this paper, we study the transmission through an LRS with phase errors that have a generic distribution. We show that the LRS-based composite channel is equivalent to a point-to-point Nakagami fading channel. This equivalent representation allows for theoretical analysis of the performance and can help the system designer study the interplay between performance, the distribution of phase errors, and the number of reflectors. Numerical evaluation of the error probability for a limited number of reflectors confirms the theoretical prediction and shows that the performance is remarkably robust against the phase errors.

We consider load controlled quasistatic evolution. Well posedness results for the nonlocal continuum model related to peridynamics are established. We show local existence and uniqueness of quasistatic evolution for load paths originating at stable critical points. These points can be associated with local energy minima among the convex set of deformations belonging to the strength domain of the material. The evolution of the displacements however is not constrained to lie inside the strength domain of the material. The load-controlled evolution is shown to exhibit energy balance.