Transmission Concepts and System Realization for Terahertz Wireless Communications

本项目的目标是设计和实现一个太赫兹范围内的无线通信系统，最大传输频率可达1太赫兹，信号带宽可达几十GHz。由于设备技术的重大进展，预计THz范围，以前被称为无线电频率“无人区”，可以在未来用于无线通信。THz通信具有为诸如短距离室内传输、固定无线接入和毫微微蜂窝内的传输等应用提供超高数据速率的潜力。然而，这种传输系统仍处于起步阶段，需要进行更多的研究，以优化传输概念并开发系统实现。该项目针对这两个方面，并将在微波和光子学研究所（LHFT）和埃尔朗根-纽伦堡弗里德里希-亚历山大大学数字通信研究所（IDC）之间密切合作。这些研究所可以借鉴丰富的专业知识，实现在更高频段（LHFT）运行的系统，并分别根据通信理论和信号处理（IDC）的概念设计通信系统。这种专门知识的结合是罕见的，将非常有利于实现项目的目标。在THz范围内，与较低频率范围相比，损伤和实现效应起着更加明显的作用，并且理论系统优化和系统实现必须共同考虑，以便获得有意义的结果。特别是，在这个项目中，一个灵活的和便携式的THz信道探测器具有前所未有的测量精度和超高频范围将被开发和用于获取THz信道特性。根据测量结果，将开发用于传输方案设计的信道模型。此外，与现有技术方案相比，将实现具有改进的频率范围和带宽的硬件平台，并且将表征诸如相位噪声的硬件损害。这些信息将用于进一步改进所设计的传输方案，以使其对硬件损伤具有鲁棒性。在所开发的硬件平台上进行实时传输实验，验证系统性能。

The objective of this project is the design and realization of a system for wireless communications in the THz range, with maximum transmission frequencies of up to 1 THz and a signal bandwith of up to several tens of GHz. Due to significant recent progress in device technology, it is anticipated that the THz range, which was previously referred to as radio frequency ''no man's land", can be utilized for wireless communications in the future. THz communications has the potential to provide ultra-high data rates for applications such as short-range indoor transmission, fixed wireless access, and transmission within femtocells. However, such transmission systems are still in their infancy, and much more research is needed in order to optimize transmission concepts and to develop system realizations. This project targets both of these aspects and will be carried out in close collaboration between the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics (LHFT) and the Institute for Digital Communications (IDC) of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg. The institutes can draw from a rich expertise in realizing systems operating in higher frequency bands (LHFT) and designing communication systems based on concepts from communications theory and signal processing (IDC), respectively. Such a combination of expertise is rare and will be very beneficial for realizing the objectives of the project. In the THz range, impairments and realization effects play a much more pronounced role compared to lower frequency ranges, and theoretical system optimization and system realization have to be jointly considered in order to obtain meaningful results. In particular, in this project, a flexible and portable THz channel sounder with unprecedented measurement precision and ultra-high frequency range will be developed and used for the acquisition of the THz channel characteristics. Based on the measurements, channel models will be developed which will be used for the design of transmission schemes. Furthermore, a hardware platform with improved frequency range and bandwidth compared to state-of-the-art schemes will be realized, and hardware impairments such as phase noise will be characterized. This information will be used to further improve the designed transmission schemes in order to make them robust against hardware impairments. Real-time transmission expertiments will be conducted to verify the system performance based on the developed hardware platform.