Terahertz Communications: Ultra-broadband Transceivers, Antennas and Propagation

Description

Terahertz-band (0.1-10 THz) communication is envisioned as a key wireless technology of the next decade. The THz band will help overcome the spectrum scarcity problems of current wireless networks, by providing an unprecedentedly large bandwidth. In addition, THz-band communication will enable a plethora of long-awaited applications, both at the nano-scale and at the macro-scale, ranging from reliable information transfer among non-invasive nanosensors to instantaneous data transfer among mobile devices. The objective of this course is to provide the audience with the necessary tools to contribute to the development of THz communications, including THz transceiver design, ultra-broadband and multi-band THz antenna design and THz propagation and channel modelling. An in-depth view of THz-band communications will be provided. First, the state of the art and open challenges in the design and development of THz communication devices will be introduced, including THz sources and detectors, modulators and demodulators, and antennas and antenna arrays. Different technology platforms will be described and benchmarked, including electronic devices, photonic devices and plasmonic devices enabled by new materials (e.g., graphene and other 2D materials, and van der Waals structures). Second, the current progress and open research directions in terms of THz-band channel modelling will be presented. The main phenomena affecting the propagation of THz signals will be explained, including the role of molecular absorption, scattering, reflection and diffraction in different applications (from intra-body to on Earth to space communications). Current modelling, simulation and experimental validation strategies will be discussed.

Course Contents

1. 1. Introduction and Applications of THz-band Communication Networks
   2. THz Device Technologies
      1. THz Transceivers
         1. Electronic Approach
         2. Photonic Approach
         3. Plasmonic Approach
      2. THz Antennas
         1. Multi-band and ultra-broadband antennas
         2. Time-delay antenna arrays
         3. Reflectors, reflect-arrays and metasurfaces
   3. THz-band Propagation and Channel Modeling
      1. Fundamentals: Spreading Loss, Absorption Loss, Scattering Loss
      2. Multi-path Channel Modeling
      3. Three-dimensional End-to-end Modeling
      4. Ultra-massive MIMO Channel Modeling

Registration

For registration information, please refer to the conference website.