A Survey On Terahertz Communications

MILLIMETER AND THZ WAVE FOR 5G AND BEYOND
A Survey on Terahertz Communications

Zhi Chen, Xinying Ma, Bo Zhang*, Yaxin Zhang, Zhongqian Niu, Ningyuan Kuang, Wenjie Chen, Lingxiang Li,
Shaoqian Li
National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Communications, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China,
Chengdu 611731, China
* The corresponding author, email: bozhang@uestc.edu.cn
Abstract: With the exponential growth of the Keywords: Terahertz (THz) communications;
data traffic in wireless communication sys- beyond fifth generation (5G); superheterodyne
tems, terahertz (THz) frequency band is en- receiver; modulators; antennas; channel mod-
visioned as a promising candidate to support el; beamforming; technical challenges.
ultra- broadband for future beyond fifth gen-
eration (5G), bridging the gap between milli- I. INTRODUCTION
meter wave (mmWave) and optical frequency
ranges. The purpose of this paper is to provide With the fact that the development of wireless
a comprehensive literature review on the de- data rates have doubled every 18 months [1],
velopment towards THz communications and the wireless communication systems show a
presents some key technologies faced in THz tendency of explosive growth for ultra-high
wireless communication systems. Firstly, de- data rates. Although the higher data rates of the
spite the substantial hardware problems that information transmission can be achieved to
have to be developed in terms of the THz solid some extent by taking advantage of advanced
state superheterodyne receiver, high speed physical layer solutions and the improved hard-
THz modulators and THz antennas, the prac- ware components (e.g., sources, detectors and
tical THz channel model and the efficient THz antennas), it is still unpractical for conventional
beamforming are also described to compensate communication systems to reach the data rate
for the severe path attenuation. Moreover, two of 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and even
different kinds of lab-level THz communica- several Terabits per second (Tbps) [2]. To tack-
tion systems are introduced minutely, named le this problem preferably, the new frequency
a solid state THz communication system and bands should be explored. Fortunately, several
a spatial direct modulation THz communica- competitive candidates of the frequency bands
tion system, respectively. The solid state THz have sprung up in recent years.
system converts intermediate frequency (IF) One of the alternatives for fifth generation
modulated signal to THz frequency while the (5G) mobile communication systems is the
direct modulation THz system allows the high millimeter wave (mmWave) communication
power THz sources to input for approving the scheme, which has the ability to provide large
relatively long distance communications. Fi- bandwidth from hundreds of MHz to several
nally, we discuss several potential application GHz range [3]-[5]. With such an available
scenarios as well as some vital technical chal- bandwidth, mmWave communication sys-
Received: Oct.5, 2018
lenges that will be encountered in the future tems are able to offer much more bandwidth
Revised: Nov.15, 2018
THz communications. than traditional microwave communication Editor: Jianhua Zhang
China Communications • February 2019 1
Authorized licensed use limited to: KIIT University. Downloaded on June 28,2022 at 07:40:52 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
systems below 5 GHz [6]. Although the data cy and radio frequency (RF) is envisioned as
The purpose of this rate in mmWave band can achieve several one of the most promising spectrum bands to
paper is to provide a Gbps [7], it is still not sufficient to satisfy the enable ultra-high-speed communications for
comprehensive liter- requirement of the increasing data traffics in beyond 5G. Recently, THz band communi-
ature review on the
future wireless communications. For example, cation attracts a great deal of attention due to
development towards
THz communications
future wireless local area networks (WLAN) its ability to achieve innovative applications
and presents some key and wireless personal area networks (WPAN) for diverse scenarios, which has the ability to
technologies faced in systems require the data rate at least a couple support the much higher speed data rates from
THz wireless commu- of ten Gbps [2]. In addition, the minimal data tens of Gbps to several Tbps than mmWave
nication systems. rate of virtual reality (VR) devices is expected band communication. Compared with wireless
to 10 Gbps. Moreover, the data rate of uncom- optical communication, the THz communica-
pressed ultra-high-definition videos and 3D tion system is insensitive to the atmospheric
videos will reach to 24 Gbps and 100 Gbps, effects in outdoor wireless communications.
respectively [8]. So there is a pressing investi- As for indoor wireless communications, it is
gation for much higher frequency resources. much easier for THz frequency band to track
Except for the mmWave communication the beam than optical frequency band, which
systems mentioned before, free space opti- will enormously affect the mobility of the
cal (FSO) communication systems have also wireless communication systems. Beyond that,
attached great attention owing to its unique there is another advantage that THz communi-
advantages, including the large bandwidth, cation systems have the capability of utilizing
license free spectrum, less power consumption the reflection paths to enhance the link gains
and so on [9]. Due to the excellent features of in indoor applications. As discussed above, a
optical carrier, the architecture of FSO commu- deeper research on THz communications is
nication can be applied to satellite-to-ground essential to be developed in the near future.
and inter-satellite optical communication links. Over the past few years, the THz technolo-
However, the FSO communication system gy has been addressed by governments and re-
processes its own shortcomings. For the satel- searchers all over the world. The development
lite-to-ground communication links, the perfor- of new transceiver architectures and antennas
mance of FSO communication system is influ- built upon novel materials are bringing THz
enced seriously by unpredictable environmental band communication one step closer to the
conditions like clouds, fog, rain, haze, etc. With reality [19]. In 1990, the National Aeronautics
regard to the inter-satellite communication and Space Administration (NASA) of America
links, the FSO communication system suffers started to carry out the THz Technology Pro-
from the limitations of difficult beam tracking gram. In order to maintain the competitiveness
and high background noise [10]-[12]. Besides, in the field of THz communications, European
for the indoor wireless optical communications Union (EU) began to carry out the Wireless
[13]-[18], using the optical wave turns out to Area Networking of THz Emitters and De-
be not an appropriate option since the data rates tectors (WANTED) plan led by University of
are limited to poor sensitivity of incoherent Cambridge from 2000 to 2003. This WANT-
receivers, high diffuse reflection losses and a ED plan has raised the first quantum cascade
limited power budget due to the eye-safety lim- laser (QCL) in the world and has realized the
its. Accordingly, another alternative frequency Gbps-level data rate transmission of the wire-
band is demanded to settle the problems exist- less communication system. Apart from this
ing in FSO communication systems. plan in Europe, the third generation (3G) THz
Instead of the aforementioned frequency communication system of Japan was used for
regions, terahertz (THz) electromagnetic ra- high definition television (HDTV) live broad-
diation (from 100 GHz to 10 THz) that lies in cast at Beijing Olympics in 2008. In addition,
the boundary region between optical frequen- the Chinese government also attaches great
2 China Communications • February 2019
importance to the development of THz com- communication networks. Further- more, the
munication systems. A THz research project, challenges of the hardware components and
supported by the National High Technology signal processing methods that should be ad-
Research and Development Program of China dressed in future THz communication systems
(also known as 863 Program), was launched in are discussed generally in Section V. Finally,
2011. Particularly, the University of Electronic we conclude this paper with an outlook to-
Science and Technology of China (UESTC) wards the realization of extreme-bandwidth
was a major undertaker of 863 Program and THz communications in Section VI.
the research funding was up to 20 million
dollars. Until 2015, all the preset targets of the II. KEY TECHNOLOGIES IN THZ
863 Program had been fulfilled successfully COMMUNICATIONS
and the UESTC had demonstrated the first lab-
level THz communication systems in China. In this section, we discuss the promising key
Meanwhile, other countries around the world techniques for the realization of the THz wire-
such as Korea and Russia also pay more at- less communication systems, where the pivotal
tention to developing the THz communication techniques contain the hardware components
systems. More importantly, due to the high and software methods, such as THz solid state
global voice for THz communications, Inter- superheterodyne receiver, THz modulators,
national Telecommunications Union-Radio THz channel model, THz channel estimation,
(ITU-R) had set up a dedicated QUESTION THz beamforming and THz beam tracking.
to study 275-1000 GHz in 2012, forming a Then we will highlight these important tech-
technical research report, contributed by many niques specifically in the following.
administrations including the USA and Japan.
2.1 THz solid state superheterodyne
Then, in 2015, ITU-R achieved the goal of
receiver
finding potential new spectrum at 275-450
GHz for land fixed mobile communication The THz solid state communication system
services. In this item, the USA, Europe, Japan relies on the breakthrough of key solid state
and other countries and regions are widely in- circuits. As for the hot application fields of
volved, which will contribute to the practical wireless communication system in THz band,
application for future beyond 5G. heterodyne reception is the most widespread
In this paper, we primarily give an intro- receiving system. The core circuits of the
duction to the essentiality and necessity of the heterodyne reception system usually include
high speed wireless THz communications for the circuits for frequency conversion, signal
beyond 5G. Meanwhile, the development of generation and amplification. However, in
the THz communications with regard to dif- THz band, solid state amplifiers are relatively
ferent countries is also presented, especially in lacking because the technology of III-V family
China. In Section II, we move on to the exist- compound semiconductor transistor is imma-
ing key technologies in THz communication ture. Amplifiers are mainly divided into power
systems, such as THz hardware components, amplifiers and low noise amplifiers (LNA).
channel model, beam tracking, beamforming As the last stage of the transmitter, the power
and so on. In Section III, two different kinds amplifier is directly connected to the antenna.
of THz communication systems are displayed The power amplifier affects the output power
in detail, as well as the corresponding experi- of the transmitter, and directly determines the
ment platforms. In Section IV, some promising operating distance of the system. Whereas
application scenarios of ultra-broadband com- the LNA is generally used as the first level
munications in the THz band are described, of the receiver, it affects the sensitivity and
including wireless mobile networks beyond noise performance of the receiver. Only a few
5G, wireless data center scenario and space countries have the ability to carry out the de-
velopment of solid-state THz amplifiers at the integrates the microstrip circuit with the semi-
cost of high price and low yield rate [20]-[29]. conductor process on the diode substrate. This
Therefore, academia pays more attention to the not only reduces the parasitic parameters pro-
exploration of mixers and multipliers based duced by assembly, but also improves the pro-
on Schottky barrier devices in the field of cess accuracy of the circuit. This integrated pla-
solid-state THz techniques. The development nar diode is often considered as the third stage
of mixers and multipliers based on Schottky of diode development, which is also called
barrier diodes is essentially considered as a diode-based monolithic microwave integrated
history of Schottky barrier diodes. In general, circuit (MMIC) circuit [31]. Although separat-
the development of THz Schottky barrier di- ed and integrated planar diodes are classified as
odes has gone through three main stages [30], different stages of the diode development, they
as shown in Fig. 1. are essentially identical. Both of them are based
The first stage of the diode is called whisker on planar diode technique to achieve Schottky
contacted diode, whose anode is a piece of met- contact. These two kinds of diodes are still
al like a whisker and it needs to be pressed into coexisting at the same time, but the frequency
a semiconductor manually to form a Schottky bands used are different. Usually, circuits be-
contact. Such devices are very difficult to as- low 500 GHz still prefer separate planar diodes,
semble and have low reliability. Therefore, which are cheaper and more flexible.
with the progress of semiconductor technique, Due to the lacking of THz amplifiers, mix-
planar diodes appear in order to improve the er becomes the first stage of the receiver and
reliability. A planar diode is the anode of the affects system performance. In THz band,
diode connects to the cathode pad across a sur- subharmonic mixers are usually used because
face channel in the form of an air bridge. These they can reduce the difficulty of the local os-
diodes are realized by semiconductor processes, cillator. The development of THz subharmonic
thus achieving a greatly reliability and repeat- mixers follows the three stages of diode devel-
ability. The emergence of planar diodes has opment, from the early use of whisker contact
brought a revolutionary change in the circuit diodes [32] to the separate planar diodes [33]–
based on Schottky barrier devices. With the [41], and integrated planar diodes in nowadays
emergence of planar diodes, whisker contact di- [42]–[48]. Similarly, the development of mul-
odes have withdrawn from the historical stage. tipliers is also accompanied by the different
In the early days, planar diodes were discrete, stages of diode development [49]–[67]. The
which were integrated with microstrip circuits THz frequency multipliers usually uses double
through a surface mount process. This type of or triple frequency, higher orders of multipli-
diode was often classified as the second stage. ers are hardly used because of low efficiency.
With the increasing frequency of the circuit, it Doublers are more common in THz band
is difficult to improve the performance of hy- than triplers, because triplers need to set up
brid integrated circuit based on the split planar a special loop for the second harmonic in the
diode because of the mounting process error. circuit, thus increasing the matching network
Then the integrated planar diode appears which complexity of triplers [68]. The realization of
THz system depends on the breakthrough of
THz key solid state circuits. That is, in order
to develop the solid-state THz communication
system, mixers and multipliers ought to be
deeply studied and explored.
点触式二极管
Whisker contacted diode
分离式平面二极管
Discrete planar diode
集成平面二极管
Integrated planar diode
2.2 THz modulators
(Whisker contacted diode) (Discrete planar diode) (Integrated planar diode)
THz wave modulator is a key component in
Fig. 1. The development of THz Schottky barrier diodes [29]. THz systems for wide range of applications
from imaging to communication. A key to [70]. As shown in Fig. 2, the observed tuning
high-speed communication using THz wave range of the fabricated device is as high as
is fast and efficient amplitude and phase mod- 26% (from 0.76 THz to 0.96 THz) through op-
ulator which is used to encode information in tical control to silicon.
the carrier wave. In recent years, the discovery In order to get high speed modulation per-
of metamaterials has greatly improved our formance, the THz modulators that combine
capabilities to manipulate electromagnetic high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with
radiation in the THz band. The combination of electric SRRs by electronic control have been
metamaterials and semiconductor technologies developed. In 2011, D. Shrekenhamer first pro-
has led to significant breakthroughs in dynam- posed an electrically-controlled HEMT/SRR-
ic THz functional devices, great achievements based composite THz modulator with high
have been obtained in THz amplitude and speed amplitude modulation of THz waves [71].
phase modulation. In addition, the emergence And the modulation speed of the device was
of new two-dimensional materials such as estimated to reach 10 MHz for the THz wave
graphene provides a new pave for electronic with a frequency of 0.46 THz. Since then, new
and optical THz modulators. structures (include metamaterial and HEMT)
THz Amplitude Modulator - In 2006, the have been tried [72]-[74]. In 2015, Y. X. Zhang
Las Amos Laboratory of USA proposed an presented a composite metamaterial structure
artificial microstructured THz wave modulator that combines an equivalent collective dipolar
based on the Schottky diode principle through array with a double-channel heterostructure to
an all-electronic approach [69] in which the obtain an effective, ultrafast, and all-electronic
modulator can be controlled by changing the grid-controlled THz modulator [74]. This THz
carrier concentration at the gap of the split- modulator is the first to achieve a 1 GHz modu-
ring resonator (SRR) ring, which has a modulation speed and 85% modulation depth during
lation depth of 50%. Similar to the underlying real-time dynamic tests.
principle of THz wave modulation by electric Since the first demonstration of compres-
injection or depletion of charge carriers, the sive imaging with single-pixel system, there
photon-generated carriers in semiconductors has been significant interest in extending the
can be changed by photo-doping of semicon- techniques to larger wavelength in the THz re-
ductors. In 2010, N. H. Shen experimentally gime due to lack THz focal plane arrays. How-
demonstrated an optically implemented blue- ever, due to lack of commercial solid-state
shift tunable metamaterial in the THz regime spatial light modulators (SLMs), early re-
(a) of the device.

(a) Schematic of the design (b) Normalized transmission(b)
amplitude of the THz beam for the
metamaterial device as a function of energy flux of pump beam.
Fig. 2. Optically controlled blueshift tunable metamaterial device [69].
search on THz single-pixel imaging had to re- frequency (0.45 THz) leading to THz wave
sort to mechanically scanned apertures. More modulation, as shown in Fig. 3 [78]. The con-
recently, metamaterial based SLMs are show- trol of the modulator is realized by changing
ing promise in single pixel imaging [75]-[78]. the channel carrier density of pseudomorphic
For instance, in 2016, Researchers at Tufts high-electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs)
University in the United States report THz that are embedded in each of the split gaps of
spatial light modulator which uses high mo- the metamaterial elements, allowing modulat-
bility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) ing speeds up to 10 MHz and 36% modulation
to manipulate the metamaterial resonant depth while consuming sub-milliwatt power.
On this basis, they designed a 2×2 pixel array
of SLM on-chip to achieve spatial imaging of
a ”cross-shaped” object at a switching voltage
of 1 V, which is the first solid-state THz spatial
light modulator.
In recent years, many new materials that re-
spond to electricity or light, such as graphene
[79]-[81], have gradually been applied to
THz modulators. In 2014, researchers at Rice
(a)
(a) The THz SLM is a 2 × 2 array of individual
(b)
(b) Experimental configuration for University in the United States placed metal
pixels. Each pixel is independently controlled by THz transmission imaging through
an external voltage source VGS−i,j (0 − 1V) to the SLM. The SLM is placed at the
ring holes on a single layer of graphene to
control the transmission of the incident THz wave. image plane to spatially modulate the achieve a 50% modulation depth by applying
transmissive wave front.
a gate voltage [79]. In 2015, researchers at
Fig. 3. Design and fabrication of the THz SLM [77]. Nanyang Technological University reported a
single-chip integrated device of graphene and
THz quantum cascade lasers, achieving the
range of modulation depth from 94% to 100%
and reaching the modulation rates of 100 MHz
in specific regions [80]. In 2017, researchers
at the University of Maryland in the United
States covered graphene sheets on the surface
of a passive silicon dielectric waveguide, the
maximum modulation depth was over 90%
with an applied gate voltage [81]. Vanadium
dioxide with phase transition properties is also
(a) Schematic of the design of the device. widely used in THz modulators. For example,
the researchers at UESTC successfully fabri-
cated a THz optical modulator with a modula-
tion rate of 10 MHz and a modulation depth of
more than 85% using vanadium dioxide (VO2)
[82] and researchers at the University of Penn-
sylvania prepared a digital memory that erases
reading and writing, using the phase transition
of vanadium dioxide [83] as shown in Fig. 4.
Moreover, other new semiconductor materials
are also used in the design of THz modulators.
In 2016, researchers at Nankai University
(b) Reflectance switching and rewritable memory effect observed.
realized an optically pumped THz modulator
Fig. 4. THz vanadium dioxide modulator [82]. using a new two-dimensional material MoS2
combined with highly doped silicon [84]. results show that controlling the power of
THz Phase Modulator - In the year 2009, the external laser can achieve a phase shift
the first THz phase modulator based on an of up to 138 degrees near 0.6 THz using this
undoped GaAs-metallic splitring resonators one-layer VO2 nested composite structure.
metamaterial structure was developed. In this Moreover, within a 55 GHz (575-630 GHz)
work, by electrically tuning of the carrier den- bandwidth, the phase shift exceeds 130 de-
sity near the gaps of the SRR, L-C resonance grees [89], as shown in Fig. 5.
mode is dynamically regulated, leading to a 30 In recent years, the discovery of metama-
degree phase shift [85]. Later, using the photo terials has greatly improved our capabilities
characteristics of the GaAs, external ultrashort to manipulate electromagnetic radiation in the
laser pulse has been utilized to induce the THz band. The combination of metamateri-
change of the dipole-like resonance in order als and semiconductor technologies has led
to achieve 40-50 degree phase shift [86]. Fur- to significant breakthroughs in dynamic THz
thermore, an electrically gate-controlled active functional devices. Metamaterials and meta-
graphene- Fanolike asymmetric double split surfaces have led to the realization of novel
rings composite structure with a 32.2 degree electromagnetic properties and functionalities
phase shift was proposed [87]. As like the am- through tailoring subwavelength structures
plitude modulator, HEMT is also used in the and integrating functional materials.
design of the THz phase modulator [72], [74].
2.3 THz antennas
Although the two- dimensional electron gas in
HEMT allows the modulator to have an ultra- THz techniques have been receiving expand-
fast modulation rate, obtaining a large phase ing interest in the recent years. With the help
shift remains a challenge. The application of of newly invented THz sources, THz systems
vanadium dioxide brings a turning point for have been developed for various applications.
this problem. In 2016, Y. Urade proposed a One important technique for THz communica-
reconfigurable planar metamaterial that can tion systems is the design of efficient antennas
be switched between capacitive and inductive for THz wave transmission and receiving.
responses using local changes in the electrical As a matter of fact, an antenna is a key
conductivity of its constituent material. This component for transmitting and receiving
device is based on Babinet’s principle and ex- THz waves in the existing THz systems. In
ploits the singular electromagnetic responses the conventional modality, the sources and the
of metallic checkerboard structures, which are antennas are usually considered as two parts.
dependent on the local electrical conductivity.
The Babinet-invertible metasurface equipped
with a thermostat can be utilized as a switch-
able filter and as a switchable π/2 phase shifter
for THz waves [88]. In 2018, a ring-dumbbell
composite resonator nested with VO2 nano-
structures was proposed to achieve the large
phase shift. It is found that in this structure a
hybrid mode with an enhanced resonant inten-
sity, which is coupled by the L-C resonance
and dipole resonance has been observed.
Applying the photo-induced phase transition (a)
(a) 3D sketch of the experiment with the pump laser. (b) THz-TDS (b)experimental results
characteristics of VO2, the resonant intensity with the variation in laser energy.
of the mode can be dynamically controlled,

which leads to a large phase shift in the inci- Fig. 5. THz phase modulator based on vanadium dioxide coupling nanostructures
dent THz wave. The dynamic experimental [88].
The distinct difference of a THz system is that rors to produce time delay to the pump pulse.
the source and the radiation part may need to Generally speaking, the laser pulse is much
be considered as a whole, which is particular- narrower in comparison with the THz wave,
ly true for a THz time domain spectroscopy with the former on the order of femtosecond
(THz-TDS) system. Nevertheless, one has to and the latter on the order of picosecond, en-
bear in mind that THz can still be generated suring sufficient time-resolved sampling rate.
by the conventional microwave ways such as Some typical photoconductive antennas have
multiplexer. Therefore, THz antennas are very been demonstrated, such as a photoconductive
versatile such as the photoconductive antenna antenna with a lens structure [92], log- period-
developed in recent decades, the conventional ic antenna [93] and interdigital array [94].
horn antenna, the reflector antenna and dy- THz Horn Antennas - A horn antenna is
namic antenna. For photoconductive antennas, still one of the most popular types of anten-
the major limitation is their power conversion nas in THz bands. Horn antennas utilized as
efficiency, which though can be improved feeds are seen in Atacama large millimeter/
through many ways, while for horn, reflector submillimeter array (ALMA) and Planck
and dynamic antennas working in the THz telescope [95], [96], both arranged in a focal
band, the main technological issue is the fabri- plane array with more than a dozen feeds
cation precision. working at different frequencies. Planck array
THz Photoconductive Antennas - Pho- horns covering the frequency range of 27.5-
toconductive antennas are possibly the most 870 GHz are centered at 30 GHz, 44 GHz, 70
used form in the THz-TDS. This method was GHz, 100 GHz, 143 GHz, 217 GHz, 353 GHz,
first introduced by Auston and his colleagues 545 GHz and 857 GHz. The feed array of the
in the early 1980s [90], [91]. Later on, the Planck satellite is shown in Fig. 7a. Lastly, in
photoconductive antennas were widely utilized the washing-off stage, residual aluminum may
in THz systems. A diagram of the THz-TDS is exist that distorts the radiation pattern or in-
shown in Fig. 6. An 800 nm laser is directed creases the reflection coefficient. A magnified
to a beam splitter to divide the laser to a pump mandrel fabricated in Rutherford and Apple-
pulse and a probe pulse. The pump pulse ton Laboratory is shown in Fig. 7b. Actually,
shines on the photoconductive antenna to pro- THz horns are normally connected with wave-
duce THz radiation, which is then refocused guides, the previous international standards
by an off- axis paraboloidal reflector. After specifying the dimensions of which only to
passing through the sample, which can be bi- a maximum frequency of 330 GHz [97]. The
ological species, semiconductor wafers, and newly approved standard rectangular metallic
other imaging objects, the THz wave is again waveguide for THz applications has extended
refocused to the detector. The other path, the the operating frequency to 5 THz. Also, the
probe pulse, is delayed by a pair of delay mir- physical dimensions of the waveguides work-
ing in the THz range lies in the micrometer
range, which surely will impose challenges on
Off Axis fabrication.
PC Paraboloidal
Laser BS Mirror THz Reflector Antennas - A reflector an-
tenna is deployed in a wide scope of applica-
Delay
tions ranging from microwave communication
Sample to optical telescope. Most satellite commu-
nication systems are deployed with reflector
antennas. Radioastronomy cannot have been
Detector
so developed if a reflector antenna had not yet
been invented. When the working frequency is
Fig. 6. A diagram of the THz-TDS. high up to the mmWave range, the size of res-
onate type of antenna starts to decrease, lead- lens-array concept should provide a low-loss
ing to decrease in the effective receiving area. and relatively simple solution for electronic
Reflector antennas are normally electrically beam control. At optical frequencies, applica-
large, from several wavelengths in diameter tions mostly relate to sensing but flexible free-
to tens of hundred wavelengths. Such electric space interconnects or even visible light com-
size usually bears high gain or high effective munication could be of interest in the future.
receiving area. In general, an electrically large Early attempts to beam-scanning at particular-
antenna provides very narrow beam, usually ly high frequencies include the on-going effort
the 3 dB beam width being a couple of de- to produce a micro-electro-mechanical system
grees or even narrower. Such a narrow beam (MEMS) based reflectarray at 120 GHz [100].
provides one with high gain since the energy However, such frequencies can be considered
is very concentrated, which is very critical for as an upper bound for the applicability of
remote sensing applications. Single paraboloi- standard RF-MEMS technique, among others,
dal reflector antenna used for THz application because the MEMS elements become too elec-
is rarely reported. One example is the main trical large to efficiently be integrated within
dish equipped on the payload of advanced the array unit cell. Therefore, it is particularly
microwave sounding unit-B (AMSU-B) [98].
Examples of single reflectors, however, can be
found in the microwave and mmWave range.
In the THz range, paraboloidal reflectors are
utilized in Cassegrain or Gregorian configura-
tions. Offset structure was employed in Planck
telescopes, while the Herschel telescope ad-
opted a front-feed one. The Planck telescope
has a main dish of diameter of 1.5 m, with
its operating frequency high up to 870 GHz
[99]. The Herschel telescope, in contrast, has a
(a)
much larger main dish of 3.5 m in diameter, as (b)
shown in Fig. 8. Such electrically large anten-

nas enable the detection of cosmic background Fig. 7. (a) Planck array horns covering the frequency range of 27.5-870 GHz,
radiation and deep space signal with gain up centered at 30, 44, 70, 100, 143, 217, 353, 545, 857 GHz. (b) The mandrel of a cor-
to 70 dB. Ground base observatory also adapts rugated horn antenna up to 2 THz [95].
electrically large aperture reflector antenna or
reflector array. The ALAMA antenna arrays
have single antennas of diameter of 7 m or 12
m [95]. Such array forms an interferometer
that can detect signals from deep space with
an angular resolution of 0.1 acres. The work-
ing frequency of the ALAMA array covers the
range of 31-950 GHz. Spherical main dishes
are also used such as the main reflectors of
FAST under construction in China and Areci-
bo Observatory in Chili.
THz Dynamic Antennas — Dynamic
beam control is now also considered at THz
(a) Planck with a main reflector 1.5 m (b) Herschel with a main reflector of 3.5 m in
frequencies. Potential applications at THz fre- in diameter. diameter, reproduced by permission of ESA.
quencies are numerous both for sensing and

communication, where the reflectarray and Fig. 8. Herschel telescope [98].
relevant to consider enabling technologies 300 GHz uses two polyethylene lens antennas
based on reconfigurable materials. For in- of 5 cm in diameter, 12 cm focal length to
stance, there have been experimental demon- compensate free-space path loss [103]. Un-
strations of reflectarray unit cells using LCs, avoidably, the fabrication error of a lens an-
as shown in Fig. 9a, based on the principle that tenna produces uncertainty to the performance
the LC anisotropic permittivity tensor is mod- of its far field [95]. In most cases, the side
ified by an applied bias field [101]. Though lobe level increases and the gain decreases as
this demonstration was done at sub-milli- the surface accuracy decreases. For polymers,
meter-wave frequencies, the use of LC has the machining of the curved surface with high
proven very efficient at optical frequencies in precision is a challenge work. Also, tempera-
display applications and thus should also be ture fluctuation makes the radiation pattern
applicable to the reflectarray concept. Second, easily distorted. In addition, the reflection on
the concept using of graphene for beam-scan- the air-polymer surface decreases the efficien-
ning at 1.3 THz has been proposed [102], as cy depending on the refractive index.
shown in Fig. 9b. In this case, graphene’s 2D To summarize, the design of antennas in the
complex surface impedance is dynamically THz band often has much more to consider
controlled by applying a bias voltage to a near- than its lower-frequency counterpart such as
by electrode (so-called graphene ‘field effect’) sources and fabrication issues. The photocon-
to achieve dynamic phase control. These LC ductive antenna, though being called an anten-
and graphene cell concepts are based on the na, is an integrated THz signal generator. Var-
typical resonant cell topology consisting of a ious methods have been explored in order to
conductive patch resonator above a substrate, increase its directivity and the radiation power.
with the following notable difference. In the Other high-gain antennas such as horn anten-
case of LC it is the substrate parameters that nas and reflector antennas often have fabrica-
are controlled, while in the case of graphene tion issues in the THz range due to its short
the substrate is fixed but the resonance is al- wavelength. To achieve high-speed tracking
tered by the change in the complex conductiv- and aiming, THz dynamic scanning antennas
ity of the graphene patch. are also an urgent problem to be solved.
Other Antennas — In the THz range, a
2.4 THz channel model and
lens antenna is used in combination with pho-
estimation
toconductive antenna. Or it can be used along
in mmWave wireless communication system. For the sake of channel characterization and
One reported laboratory system working at propagation measurements in future THz
(a) (b)
(a) (b)
Fig. 9. (a) Liquid crystal-based reconfigurable reflectarray [100]. (b) Tunable graphene reflective cells for THz reflectarray [101].
wireless communication systems, it is vital ronment. To settle this problem commendably,
to establish the efficient channel models that the authors develop an accurate 3D channel
maximize the THz bandwidth allocation and model to characterize the THz spectrum pecu-
improve the spectral efficiency [104]. Consid- liarities in both the elevation and the azimuth
ering the free space attenuation, the molecular planes [122], [123]. The deterministic channel
absorption loss and the adverse weather con- models can accurately capture the THz wave
ditions experienced by THz wave, the future transmission, but the major weaknesses of
THz wireless communication systems will these methods require the specific geometry
be applied to short range indoor communica- information of the propagation environment
tion scenarios widely [105]-[108]. Meanwhile, and endure high computational complexity.
long distance outdoor communication sce- As for statistical THz channel models, a
narios are rarely employed in practice, except novel stochastic 300 GHz indoor channel
for the ideal weather environment, specified model is developed, which obtains the channel
humidity and temperature [109]. The common statistical parameters by performing extensive
THz wave propagation model can be com- ray- tracing simulations and considers the
posed of line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of- broadband frequency domain channel mod-
sight (NLOS). And the NLOS paths include eling as well as the temporal domain channel
the reflected, scattered, and diffracted paths modeling [124]. Besides, for investigating
[110]. For the NLOS propagation, the scatter- the scenario specific measurements, the prop-
ing properties of building materials have been agation channel of THz Kiosk downloading
discussed for the modeling of THz commu- application is proposed based on channel
nication systems [111]-[113]. Currently, the measurements using a vector network analyz-
existing researches on indoor THz channel er [125]. However, the channel statistics such
models are mainly categorized as determin- as the correlation function and power-delay
istic approaches [114]-[123] and statistical profile in these stochastic channel models
approaches [124]-[130]. cannot be perceived easily. To emphasize the
In deterministic channel models, the issues, the authors in [127], [128] put for-
ray-tracing technique can be regarded as a ward the geometrical propagation models for
reliable method for analyzing the LOS and device-to-device communication channels at
NLOS paths during the THz wave propaga- the sub-THz band, where the transmitter and
tion process. In [114], a deterministic channel receiver are stationary and they are equipped
model for the THz nano-communications is with directional antennas. To improve the
proposed by revisiting the concept of molecu- applicability of mobile THz communication,
lar absorption, which, however, just considers another recent research on three dimensional
the LOS propagation paths among nano-de- time-varying THz channel model is presented
vices. To take the NLOS propagation paths to deal with the channel variations [130]. The
into account, the work in [115], [116] devel- mobility of THz channel is, at least for the
ops a unified multi-ray channel model in the future applications, still a pivotal challenge
THz band based on the ray tracing technique, that is worthy of further exploration. Channel
which incorporates the propagation models for estimation in THz communication systems
the line-of-sight, reflected, scattered, and dif- is challenging due to hybrid beamforming
fracted paths. Nevertheless, these THz channel structures and the large number of antennas. A
models mentioned above only consider the 2D primary challenge is that hybrid beamforming
cases where the THz wave propagation geom- structures employed in THz communication
etry in the azimuth plane is considered. In re- systems prevent the digital baseband from di-
alistic application scenarios, it is necessary to rectly obtaining the channel dimension, which
explore the 3D channel model aiming to cap- makes it hard to acquire useful channel state
ture the THz wave propagation in a 3D envi- information (CSI) during a practical channel
coherence time. To address this issue, fast and receiver [134]. In that way, the large-scale
beam scanning and searching techniques can phased array antennas are suitable for THz
be extensively studied. The objective of beam communication systems which can concentrate
scanning is to search for the best beamform- the electromagnetic energy in predetermined di-
er-combiner pair by letting the transmitter rections by adjusting the phases and amplitudes
and receiver scan the adaptive coded beams of the array elements (precoding) according to
chosen from pre-determined beam codebooks, the beam interference criterion.
which lead to substantial training overhead Through the use of the array antennas, a
with the number of antennas increasing. Since high-gain and high-directivity beam (beam-
the THz signals are quasi-optical [105], the forming) will be generated successfully to
number of effective prorogation paths in THz prolong the communication distance. The
communications is quite limited. Therefore, key point of the beamforming technique is
the sparse scattering nature of the THz wave to find the optimal precoding and combining
channel can be utilized to reduce the training vectors to maximize the gain of array anten-
overhead for channel estimation. Similar to nas. Extensive researches have been made in
mmWave channel estimation schemes, the beamforming design for mmWave communi-
channel estimation methods based on com- cations, including analog, digital and hybrid
pressed sensing technique can also be used beamforming [135]-[144]. Since the digital
for THz channel estimation to depress the beamforming requires dedicated baseband and
training overhead [131]. Nevertheless, this RF hardware for each antenna element, the
compressed sensing technique involves very high cost and the large power consumption of
high dimensional matrix-vector multi- plica- mixed-signal hardware precludes such trans-
tion operations. To handle the computational ceiver architecture in THz communication
complexity problem appeared in compressed system. To settle the deficiencies existing in
sensing based methods, a CANDECOMP/ digital beamforming, analog beamforming
PARAFAC (CP) decomposition-based channel at THz wave band can efficiently reduce the
estimation scheme is proposed for uplink mul- number of required phase shifters in the RF
tiuser mmWave multiple-input multiple-output domain. Nevertheless, analog beamforming is
(MIMO) systems, which can achieve an addi- subject to the additional hardware constraints
tional training overhead reduction and present because the analog phase shifters are digitally
a clear performance improvement according controlled and just have quantized phase val-
to [132]. In addition, since the user mobility ues which will greatly restrict the performance
usually leads to the fast variation of THz-wave of analog beamforming in practice. After the
channels, it is also challenging for the base above discussion and analysis, hybrid analog/
station (BS) to obtain the accurate THz-wave digital beamforming can make a better trade-
channel information [133]. Therefore, more off between the analog-only methods and
efficient channel estimation schemes exploit- the fully digital methods, indicating that the
ing the temporal correlation of the time-vary- architecture of hybrid beamforming has fewer
ing channels are demanded in practice. RF chains than antennas and approaches the
fully digital performance in sparse channels
2.5 THz beamforming and beam
when properly designed. In [139], [140], two
tracking
hybrid beamforming algorithms are proposed
The transmission distance of THz wave is from the perspective of iteration that results in
greatly limited due to the high path loss and the the high computational complexity. For sake
molecular absorption loss (mainly influenced of the low complexity in hybrid beamform-
by H2O and O2) in the atmosphere, so the high- ing, a hybrid precoding algorithm based on
gain antennas are required to compensate for compressed sensing is analyzed in [141]. In
the high transmission loss between transmitter order to enable simultaneous communications
between one transmitter and multiple users, 2D beamforming, where the scanning beams
a hybrid beamforming scheme with antenna are just employed in the horizontal azimuth
subarrays is investigated in [142]–[144]. Ac- plane the scanning beams in the vertical el-
tually, in contrast to mmWave channels, the evation plane are nearly omnidirectional.
number of paths and beams in terms of THz Based on such a traditional beam switching
channels are much more sparse [145], [146]. mode, the 2D beamforming scheme is unable
Hence, designing hybrid precoding algorithms to generate high gain beams. Thus, to over-
that cater to THz channel characteristics has a come the severe path loss in THz communi-
very obvious significance for the future study cations, the 3D beamforming scheme based
of THz communications. on large-scale planar phased arrays needs to
Since beamforming is heavily dependent be addressed, whose scanning beams possess
on the CSI in THz communication systems, stronger directivity [122], [155]. Converse-
it is particularly important to obtain the accu- ly, the shortcomings of the 3D beamforming
rate angle of departure (AoD) of transmitters scheme are time-consuming and inefficient
and the angle of arrival (AoA) of receivers during the beam scanning process. To balance
by utilizing beam tracking technique [148], the tradeoff between the performance and
[149]. To the best of our knowledge, the beam complexity in the 3D beam switching scheme,
tracking scheme is able to maintain a stable a fast beam scanning strategy is proposed in
communication link between the transmitter [156], which combines the low frequency
and the receiver via adjusting the boresight scanning and THz frequency scanning to-
directions of array antennas [150]. Besides, gether. Although this method can achieve the
the beam tracking scheme requires the trans- beam alignment by using extensive scanning
mitter to send a sequence of training beams in strategy, it occupies lots of frequency resourc-
pre-designed directions and then the receiver es. Therefore, some researches aim to reduce
can precisely estimate the AoDs according to the resource consumption by predicting the
the received signals [151], [152]. Currently, trajectories of targets [133], [157], [158]. For
the beam tracking methods are studied exten- example, a realistic human movement mod-
sively in low-frequency band, but there are el is proposed for the indoor THz wireless
still some challenges at THz frequency band, communication scenarios [158], in which the
especially for THz mobile communications. It most probable direction of human movement
is worth noting that the THz communication in the next moment can be predicted by the
system should achieve the beam alignment by reinforcement learning technique. In the same
adopting the beam switching before the beam way, a uniform linear motion model for the
tracking starts. If the beam alignment breaks targets is studied in [133] where the CSI exist-
down, the beam tracking will need the beam ing in next time slot can be obtained via ana-
switching to rebuild the communication links lyzing the CSI of the previous time slot in this
again [153]. Although the beam switching is model. Ultimately, we expect that these beam
indispensable for beam tracking, the code- tracking methods mentioned above are capable
book design of beam switching endures high
computational complexity due to the massive
antenna elements in THz communication sys- OMT Port 2
V waves
tems. However, the more complex codebook V&H Rx

waves
is capable of generating the high resolution H waves convert
into V waves
beams with regard to the transmitters, which Port 1
contributes to realizing much more accurate Tx
Port 3
angle estimation [154]. In traditional low-fre- H waves
quency beam switching scheme, the uniform

linear array antennas are usually leveraged in Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of OMT bidirectional communication system [170].
of applying to THz communication scenarios 3.1 Solid state THz wireless
in the future. communication system
Although the THz wireless communication
III. THZ WIRELESS COMMUNICATION system has enormous advantages in compar-
SYSTEMS ison with traditional communication system,
it was not until the 21st century that develops
In this section, two different kinds of THz
the THz wireless communication system due
communication systems are presented, includ-
to the lack of necessary technical support con-
ing a solid state THz communication system
ditions [159]. The achievements about THz
and a spatial direct modulation THz commu-
wireless communication system in recent years
nication system. The solid state THz wireless
are mostly based on the photoelectric combi-
communication system is based on the fre-
nation technique [40], [160]-[166]. However,
quency mixing mechanism. Instead, with the
the use of optoelectronic combination based
development of THz modulators and sources,
methods in THz wireless communication sys-
the spatial direct modulation THz communi-
tems is bound to optical components, which is
cation system modulates the baseband signals
not conducive to the integration and miniatur-
directly into the RF, which differs from the
ization of chips. Despite the difficulties in im-
solid state THz communications greatly.
plementing the THz wireless communication
system by using techniques of the tall solid
Tx state electronics, it is also challenging to inte-
grate the THz systems into chips for the future
applications [167].
In the following, we will introduce the all
solid state THz communication systems de-
Tx baseband veloped by different countries and institutions
unit
[168]-[184]. For transmitting the Full-HD
broadcast signals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic
Games, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Public Corporation (NTT) of Japan developed
the solid state THz wireless communication
system [168], [169]. The maximum commu-
nication distance of the solid state system
developed by NTT is from 3 km to 4 km, and
the maximum communication distance of its
Rx electronic system is 2 km. In 2009, all the
optical excitation devices in the system were
replaced by InP HEMT MMICs. The maxi-
mum data transmission rate of this system is
up to 11.1 Gbps, and realizes 10 Gbps signals
3D glass-free error-free transmission over 800 m. In 2010,
screen
NTT Laboratory improved the THz commu-
nication system again. The structure diagram
Tx baseband of the new two-way communication system
unit
in Fig. 10 shows that the system achieves 10
Gbps two-way data transmission rate and 20
Gbps one-way data transmission rate [171]. In
Fig. 11. The experiment platform of the 220 GHz solid state THz wireless commu- 2013, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
nication system.
(KIT) in Germany implemented a 0.24 THz all the 218.8 GHz as the center frequency of the
solid state wireless communication system by upper sideband signal. Finally, the processed
using the integrated hardware circuits that are signal is sent to the antennas to radiate to the
formed by high electron mobility transistors space.
[177]. The system is of small size and holds At the receiver side, the received signal
the high data transmission rates, with a max- passes through the BPF to the 220 GHz sub-
imum speed of 40 Gbps and a transmission harmonic mixer. And then, the intermediate
distance of 1000 m. In 2016, we UESTC de-
veloped an experimental system of 0.22 THz
Table I. The experimental parameters for solid state thz system
all solid state wireless communication system,
as shown in Fig. 11. The THz communication Experiment parameters Values
system can achieve the real- time 3D HD vid- Frequency 220 GHz
eo signal transmission of 3.52 Gbps over 200 Modulation Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK)
m communication distance in the outdoor en- Antenna Cassegrain antenna (50 dbi)
vironment [182]. Through continuous demon- Distance 200 m
stration for a long time, the performance of Receiver sensitivity -47.4 dbm
the solid state wireless communication system Data rate 3.52 Gbps
is stable, reliable and smooth where the bit BER 1.92 × 10−6
error rate (BER) is 1.92×10−6 at the data trans-
mission rate of 3.52 Gbps. The detailed ex-
perimental parameters for the solid state THz
Cassegrain antenna
communication system are listed in Table I.
I/Q modulator
In order to clarify this solid state wire-
less communication system implemented I I/Q 220 GHz
balun mixer SHM BPF
by UESTC, we will introduce the system
9.7-11.9
structure and design principle minutely. The balun GHz
Q
schematic diagram of the 220 GHz solid state 3.52
Gbits 104 GHz
communication system is shown in Fig. 12. In LO module
PLL
this system, the subharmonic mixer is used as 217.7-219.9
GHz
modulator and demodulator at the transmitter
PLL
side and receiver side, respectively. Notice- 50 MHz 13 GHz
CO
ably, the superheterodyne transceiver scheme Tx
is also adopted in the 220 GHz solid-state
Cassegrain antenna
communication system where the 220 GHz
I/Q demodulator
subharmonic mixer performs the function of
I
spectrum conversion. As for I/Q modulation BPF balun
and demodulation parts in this system, both of AGC
9.7-11.9
them are operated in the X-band. Except for GHz balun
Q 3.52
these points mentioned above, the baseband Gbps
signal is transmitted in differential signal to LO module

eliminate interference, and balun is used to 217.7-219.9 PLL
GHz
achieve signal balance-unbalance conversion.
PLL
At the transmitter side, the baseband signal 13 GHz
50 MHz
is transmitted to the modulator for I/Q modu- Rx CO
lation and then the 10.8 GHz output signal is

converted to 220 GHz through the 220 GHz
subharmonic mixer, the band pass filter (BPF) Fig. 12. The schematic diagram of transmitter and receiver in 220 GHz solid state
filters the lower sideband signal and retains communication system.
frequency (IF) signal is sent to the I/Q mixer ferent crystal to provide frequency reference.
and I/Q demodulator after automatic gain con- As long as the frequency difference is small,
trol (AGC) and amplitude equalization which the coherent demodulation can be achieved
can ensure that the level of the IF signal meets without carrier recovery circuit in the receiver.
the demodulator requirements. In the end, the Such a design method can also reduce imple-
baseband signal after demodulating is regard- mentation complexity of the receiver.
ed as a differential signal and then is sent to
3.2 Direct modulation THz wireless
the baseband circuits for signal processing.
communication system
The local oscillator in the transmitter and
the receiver are designed in the same frequen- As mentioned above, the all solid state THz
cy and power configuration. With the rapid communication system can achieve the ul-
development of digital signal processing tech- tra-high data rate transmission with QPSK
nique, the transceiver is able to use the dif- or 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-
QAM) modulation mode, which is the most
popular wireless communication way. Recent-
Eye ly, with the rapid development of the high-
pattern
base speed THz modulator, the direct modulation
band
THz communication system has been attracted
more and more attentions. Prominently, the
0.34 THz Quasi optical
commercial transimission direct modulation THz communication sys-
THz
multiplier
modulator tem becomes an efficient way to realize long
chains
source Paraboloidal distance data transmission. As shown in Fig.
mirror
antenna
13, at the first step, a continuous THz carrier
wave was generated from the THz transmitter
Paraboloidal
mirror antenna which could be either solid electronics source
THz or vacuum electronics ones. Next, the ASK
Back-end
direct
diode
signal modulation signal from the baseband with
processing
detector serial digital HD video signal has been load-
ed on the modulator to realize on-off keying
(OOK) modulating the THz carrier wave di-
Fig. 13. Direct amplitude modulation of the source input. rectly. Meanwhile, the THz wave is perpendic-
ularly transmitted to the modulator, resulting
in the OOK modulation signal loaded on the
carrier wave. At the third step, the modulated
THz waves were radiated in the space by a
parabolic antenna and received by another
one. Because the OOK modulated THz wave
can be directly sampled, in this system either
THz detector or THz mixer can be used as the
receiver. At last, the received signal has been
ASK demodulated, digital serial decoding.
Using self-developed sources (multiplier
chains), modulators and detectors, we have
developed the first lab-level THz communica-
tion system, with direct amplitude modulation
of the source input as shown in Fig. 13. This
Fig. 14. The experiment platform of the direct modulation THz wireless communi- direct modulation THz system has significant
cation system. advantages in the long distance wireless data
transmission since this system allows the spa- 4.1 Wireless mobile communications
tial external modulator to work at high power beyond 5G
lever. Thus, direct modulation THz system can
The THz band is envisioned to achieve mul-
be adapted to various types of THz sources in-
tiple tens of Gbps and even several Tbps data
cluding the watt-level continuous wave (CW)
rates in the near future wireless communica-
sources. Moreover, the data is directly loaded
tions [185]. According to the development
on the THz carrier wave through the modula-
trend of wireless communications, it is obvi-
tor so this system could eliminate the adverse
ous that the THz wireless communication sys-
effects of phase noise worsening which may
tems have an excellent application prospects.
be taken by harmonic mixers as data loading
Due to the limitation of transmission dis-
converters. Therefore, without any THz am-
tance, the THz wireless communications can
plifier this system can output the modulated
be widely used for indoor application sce-
THz signal at 5-10 mW which is more than 2
narios, including WPAN, WLAN and indoor
orders of magnitude than frequency mixing
cellular networks [2]. Normally, as shown in
and photonics mechanism systems. As shown
Fig. 15, the WPAN systems are expected to
in Fig. 14, applying 1 Gbps data transmission
realize the specific applications such as mobile
can be achieved by the direct modulation THz
phones, laptops, earphones and other tab-
communication system.
let-like devices [106]. As for the WLAN sys-
However, the performance of the THz
tems, we are supposed that the access points
communication system heavily depends on
(APs) can be developed in some places like
the THz modulators. Unfortunately, although
shopping mall halls, metro station gates and
the performance of the THz modulators is de-
other indoor places with high human mobility
veloped rapidly, the modulation speed is still
[157]. Compared with the AP that adopts the
below 3 Gbps, which restricts the application
low frequency band, one of the most prom-
of this direct modulation THz communication
inent characteristics is that the AP based on
system. Moreover, the device linearity of the
THz band provides the ability to simultane-
modulator is not very well, which is unable to
ously transmit information to multiuser in
realize the high order modulation and greatly
different directions by using the sub-array an-
reduces bandwidth availability ratio of the
tenna structure. With the further development
communication system. In short, in order to
of the AP hardware devices, the AP equipment
develop the direct modulation THz communi-
is available to bring the excellent communi-
cation system, realizing the high performance
of the THz modulators is a crucial issue.
IV. APPLICATION SCENARIOS IN THZ

COMMUNICATIONS
Tbps Links
In this section, we put forward some extreme-

ly important application scenarios that will be
applied in the future wireless THz communi-
cations, including wireless mobile networks
beyond 5G, wireless data center in THz band
and space communication networks. Besides,
the major differences among these application
scenarios are analyzed and emphasize, which
can pave the way for future THz communica-
tions development.
Fig. 15. THz wireless local area networks.
cation service to human life and facilitates the replace the human pilots to do some dangerous
high-quality video in offices and living rooms, tasks, such as battle and reconnaissance [188].
e.g., the HD holographic video conferences, When the UAVs accomplish the reconnais-
the ultra-high resolution video formats, the sance mission, the undistorted HD video infor-
download of HD film files and the VR tech- mation obtained by the reconnaissance UAVs
nique [186]. It is worth emphasizing that the can be transmitted to other combat units, e.g.,
development of the VR technique is heavily UCAVs, manned aircrafts and tanks. Then the
limited by the low-data-speed wireless com- combat units can have a better analysis for the
munication at present. Fortunately, once the battle environment and the typical application
THz bandwidth is employed in wireless com- of UAVs is shown in Fig. 16. In addition, the
munication systems, the VR technique will THz frequency band owns the unique advan-
bring much better user experience than the tage in secure communication system that it is
wire communication systems. Furthermore, hard for enemy combat units to intercept the
the THz band communication is also used for military intelligence from the pretty narrow
indoor cellular networks deployed with large- THz beams. Thanks to the ultra-high band-
scale cellular constructions. With the indoor width of the THz, the spread spectrum tech-
cellular networks, both the static users and nique and the frequency hopping technique
mobile users can enjoy the service of ultra- can be used to confront a jamming attack.
high-speed data communications in such small While the above THz communication sys-
cells [19]. However, owing to the problem of tems are usually designed for large scale and
the path loss, we need to consider how to keep long distance scenarios, the nano-machine
the reliability of the THz wireless links in the communication in the THz band is also de-
next few years of research. sired for future beyond 5G. Due to the limita-
Besides the potential indoor THz applications of the size and power consumption, these
tion scenarios mentioned above, the secure nano-machines only have the single function.
communication is another important appli- However, when these nano-machines can co-
cation in the THz wireless communication. operate with each other and form a network
It is well known that the most conceivable rather than finish the task alone, they will play
application area for the secure communication an important role in THz communications.
system is the military and defensive field [19], Then there are some specific applications of
[187]. In the military confrontation field, the nano-machine communications in THz band,
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are able to including the health monitor and the ultra-
high-speed on-chip communication. For the
health monitor scenario, the THz rays have
Gbps Links less harm to human bodies compared with
Tbps Links high radiation gamma rays. Moreover, the
numerous nano-scale sensors can be distrib-
UAVs uted in blood to collect the health information
of human body, and then some irons (e.g.,
glucose, sodium) or cancer biomarkers are
available to be monitored by the nano-sensors.
Considering from another application aspect,
the on-chip or chip-to-chip nano-components
in THz band can be applied to micro- com-
Ground Station
puters, which will greatly reduce the power
consumption and improve the performance in
Fig. 16. Illustration of the secure THz wireless communication model for military practice.
application.
4.2 Wireless data center scenario mmWave whose peak rate of data transmis-
sion can only reach 7 Gbps according to the
With the explosion growth of the data trans-
IEEE 802.11ad 60 GHz mmWave technology
mission requirements, the data centers, espe-
white paper. Besides, among the existing 5G
cially for ultra-large data centers that provide
technical indicators, the uplink peak rate is 10
huge storage space and powerful processing
Gbps and the downlink peak rate is 20 Gbps
capability for cloud services, have become
in the indoor hotspot environment, which is
the back- bone of the modern information
difficult for the current wireless communi-
industry. For the moment, the architecture of
cation systems to meet the communication
the traditional data centers is based on wired
requirements of large-scale wireless data cen-
connections. However, in that condition, the
ters in the future [195]. Therefore, the higher
wiring difficulty and maintenance cost of the
wired data centers is extremely high. Mean-
while, the massive cables take up lots of space
in data centers, which really depresses the
19 0
cooling efficiency, increases the power con- 18 1
sumption and reduces the server performance 17 2
to some extent. According to a report from 16 3
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 15 4
2016, the power consumption of data centers 14 5

will still increase continuously in the future. 6
13
By 2020, the power consumption of all data (a) Rack (3D view) 7
12
centers in the United States will reach 73 11
8
billion kWh per year that is really unafford- 10 9
able in practical application [189]. Therefore, (b) Rack (2D view from the top)
keeping this high-fidelity network active that
constructs from the traditional switching fab-
Y-switch
rics will consume 10% to 50% of the total IT
power depending on the utilization of cloud HDD
services [190]. In brief, the problems faced by

CPU RAM
traditional wired data centers mainly include
Transceiver
performance, reliability, cost of switching
fabrics, power consumption and maintenance (c) Container (d) Server
costs at present [191]-[193].

In order to solve the difficulties existing
Fig. 17. Rack and server design inspired by Cayley graphs [196].
in traditional data centers, some researchers
begin to raise the concept of wireless data
centers while the data centers based on wired
connections are knocked out. Currently, the
research on wireless data centers is still in the
stage of academic exploration, and there are
no large-scale commercial cases. In 2008, the
Rutgers researchers published the first paper
about the wireless data centers [194]. Since
then, some relevant research papers have
been published and the research on wireless
data centers is in the ascendant. What’s more,
present wireless data centers are mostly using Fig. 18. The architecture of server-to-server wireless datacenter network proposed
by University of Rochester [198].
communication frequency resources will be ters as shown in Fig. 18. In this case, the pow-
an important solution, such as THz frequency er exchange structure is eliminated compared
band. The THz communication technique is with the traditional data center network [200],
expected to achieve the transmission rate of [201], and thereby greatly saves the power
100 Gbps [145], [177], [196], which can well consumption of data transmission in the wire-
satisfy the demand for communication rate de- less data centers.
velopment in future wireless data centers. To
4.3 Space communication networks
the best of our knowledge, there are already
some research results exploring the possibility To meet the demand for space communica-
of THz communication techniques in wireless tion networks, the new frequency spectrum
data center applications. In [196], the research are needed to offer extremely high data rate
work analyzes the THz channel of indoor transmission and to reduce the energy con-
wireless data center from the perspective of sumption requirements significantly [202].
atmospheric absorption. Then the performance As mentioned before, the high atmosphere
of the THz communication in data centers is attenuation of THz signals greatly cuts down
enhanced and the substantial cost savings in the communication distance and transmittable
cabling are achieved without any throughput data rates for the ground communication sys-
concession. In [197], a random THz channel tems. Contrary to the THz communications
model for the wireless data center is estab- on the ground, the space applications in the
lished, and the characteristics of temporal and atmosphere free environment do not suffer
spatial channels are generated, which provides from the atmosphere attenuation, which is vi-
a basis for standardization and system design tal for the space communications in THz band.
of the wireless data centers. Moreover, the wireless systems based on THz
Now many countries around the world have band hold some desired advantages over cur-
paid more attention to THz-based wireless rently existing wireless systems, such as low
data centers like the EU Beyond 5G TERA- frequency systems and laser systems [105],
POD project, a three-year investment of 3 mil- [203]–[207]. On the one hand, the THz wave
lion euros. Specifically, one of the project ob- systems can provide much higher bandwidth
jectives is to verify that the THz communica- resources than the conventional microwave
tion system is able to achieve the transmission and mmWave systems. One the other hand,
rate of 100 Gbps in wireless environment. In when the communication links between satel-
the wireless data center scenario, the network lite and ground are established up, the atten-
architecture and topology have a great impact uation of THz wave systems compared with
on the efficiency of wireless communications, the laser communication systems is smaller
including the wireless link concurrency and under the harsh environment such as rain, fog,
the average hop count (end-to-end delay). For haze and battlefield [208]. Besides, it is worth
these reasons, the researchers of Cornell Uni- noting that high temperature ionizes the air
versity propose a Cayley-based network to- and forms a plasma sheath around the high-
pology to maximize the utilization of resource speed aircraft when it flies in near space. The
reuse opportunities in wireless data centers plasma frequency is around 60-70 GHz where
as shown in Fig. 17, where this rack structure the traditional measurement methods and the
effectively makes use of the space resources communication control methods are difficult
and is extended to a topology that can be mod- to penetrate the plasma sheath. However, the
eled as a mesh of Cayley graphs [198], [199]. THz wave frequency is much higher than the
Furthermore, the University of Rochester plasma sheath frequency, which ensures that
propose an all-wireless data center network the THz wireless communication is an irre-
architecture based on 60 GHz communication placeable scientific scheme to pass through
technology for small or medium size data cen- the plasma sheath for real-time measurement
and control communication of high-speed air- 5.1 THz RF devices
craft in near space communications. Finally,
There are some RF device challenges about
another pivotal advantage of the THz wireless
the hardware circuits that should be addressed
system is that it has the potential to achieve
in the future THz band communications. First-
the low complexity system design with the
ly, we are supposed to handle the accurate
simplest modulation schemes in comparison
nonlinear modeling and parameter extraction
with spacecraft S-band, Ku-band, and Ka-
of THz semiconductor devices. The semicon-
band systems that employ the high complexity
ductor device model is the design foundation
architectures to obtain high data rates due to
of the solid state THz circuits. With the oper-
the limitation of the available communication
ating frequency of semiconductor devices up
bandwidth.
to the THz band, the effect of semiconductor
In view of these advantages in THz band
materials and the distributed parameter effect
communications, THz techniques have been
of device packaging at high frequency band
explored proverbially in security screening,
become more and more prominent. The ac-
medical imaging, wireless sensors, space sci-
curacy of nonlinear model and the parameter
ence as well as astronomy [205], [209]-[213].
extraction of semiconductor devices directly
Over time, the manufacturing technologies for
affect the circuit design and determine the
the THz electronic components are advancing
system performance. Thus, it is very import-
and maturing, especially in space communica-
ant for hardware circuits to obtain accurate
tion research field. In the past 20 years, NASA
parameters of semiconductor devices based on
has successfully launched and deployed scien-
some novel design methods. Secondly, anoth-
tific satellites with THz instruments and sen-
er challenge is how to improve the efficiency
sors for applications in space communications.
of THz hardware circuits. In hardware circuit
Subsequently, the Herschel Space Observatory
part, the THz mixers and the THz multipliers
(HSO) is also a successful example of study-
are highly precise nonlinear devices with com-
ing the THz instruments, which has multiple
plex properties. According to this reason, it is
instruments on-board and heterodyne instru-
difficult to design THz circuits with high effi-
ments including six different bands that span
ciency, precise simulation, and broadband im-
from 480 GHz to 1980 GHz [214]. By briefly
pedance matching. At the same time, the THz
reviewing the THz space science in this paper,
frequency conversion circuits take on the dual
we expect that more and more THz technolo-
function of transmitting and receiving signals.
gies can be developed for future space explo-
Therefore, it is a real challenge to find out the
ration.
best working state of THz frequency conver-
sion circuit. Finally, the cavity fabrication as-
V. TECHNICAL CHALLENGES IN THZ pect is also a great challenge that will be faced
COMMUNICATIONS in future THz communications. The THz de-
vice fabrication process is restricted by small
In this section, some major technical chal-
size, high precision requirements and machin-
lenges are high- lighted to pave the way for
ing errors sensitivity, which mainly involves
beyond 5G wireless communications, includ-
the techniques of quartz substrate thickness re-
ing hardware components, signal processing
duction, micro assembly, precision machining
method and so on. For the sake of better com-
and surface treatment. From the perspective of
prehension of these challenges, the current
the simulation results, the tolerance analysis
problems and the corresponding solutions
of each dimension should be emphasized to
about the key techniques are discussed con-
ensure the remarkable performance of the THz
cretely in the following.
hardware circuits.
Besides, there are also many challenges
existing in designing amplifiers at THz fre- 5.2 THz modulators
quency band. Except for the requirement for a
As mentioned above, the performance of the
transistor of extremely high performance, the
THz modulator is a determining factor for
short wavelength and high conductor losses
the direct modulation THz communication
at such high frequency band also require that
system. However, for the amplitude THz
the dimensions have to be both physically and
modulator, there are two greater challenges:
electrically compact. Correspondingly, the
the first one is the modulation speed and the
compact transistors need the scaled photolitho-
other is the modulation depth. As we know the
graphic processes, which should be well con-
natural material cannot effectively and rapid-
trolled to ensure the predicable and repeatable
ly manipulating the THz wave so we have to
circuit features. Another challenge is about the
find proper material and structure to fulfill the
transistor modeling aspect [215], where it is
high-speed modulation of THz wave. Now-
necessary to accurately extract the model pa-
adays, the 2DEG composite materials (such
rameters at relatively low frequency band and
as GaN-HEMT) and the 2D materials (such
then extrapolate the performance of transistors
as Graphene) have been applied in the THz
upwards in higher frequency band to predict
modulators. Therefore, in future, the artificial
circuit response. In the last few years, the
material with less than 1 picosecond (ps) re-
development of THz transistor technologies
sponse time in THz band should be well de-
has pushed operating frequencies of amplifi-
veloped. In addition, the current mechanism is
ers well into the THz frequency range [216]-
combining the meta-surface with semiconduc-
[220]. A variety of fundamental advancements
tor. In general, the resistance-capacitance (RC)
are necessary to make this progress possible.
parameters of current mechanism are extreme-
Firstly, transistors with extremely high fMAX
ly high which limits the modulation speed.
(known as maximum operation frequency)
Thus, the new mechanism with the structure
are essential for demonstrating gain in the
of more compact and lower RC parameters
THz range. As a rule of thumb, the fMAX of the
should be considered, which does not fully
transistor should be 50-100% higher than the
depend on the concept of meta-surface. Fur-
design frequency. Therefore, the development
thermore, at the high-speed modulation (more
of transistors with higher fMAX and maximum
than 10 Gbps) the impedance matching circuit
gain are necessary in the future. Secondly,
becomes more and more important, which
packaging of the THz monolithic integrated
affects the modulation speed and modulation
circuits (TMIC) is another critical and chal-
speed. The study of the modulator should not
lenging task for the THz amplifier. Due to the
only concentrate on the fundamental modula-
inductive reactance, traditional wire-bonds for
tion mechanism but also the controlling circuit
passing RF signals become impractical with
of the modulator.
the increase of working frequency. Therefore,
For the phase modulator, other than the
a low-loss method has to be developed essen-
modulation speed, how to achieve the large
tially, which is used for the RF signals input
and linear change phase-shift is another great
and output in the chip. Recently, the E-plane
challenge. In general, the resonant structure
probes and dipoles are fabricated on the inte-
has been applied to realize the THz phase
grated circuit to capture the electromagnetic
modulator, however, according to the K-K re-
signal from the waveguide. But the operation
lation that the largest phase-shift in transmis-
bandwidths of these structures are still limited.
sion mode is not larger than 180 degree, new
Hence, we still need to develop the transition
structure system should be considered, such as
between the waveguide and chip with lower
the inertial structure and so on.
loss and broader bandwidth in the future.
5.3 THz antennas to infinite ADCs, several theoretical analyses
[221] suggest that one-bit ADCs can still have
Based on the high precision mechanical pro-
high date rates and spectral efficiency. And the
cessing, applying the traditional Cassegrain
mixed-ADC architecture can overcome the
and parabolic antennas, the high-gain THz
great overhead of pilot-aided channel estima-
antennas (more than 60 dB) can be achieved.
tion under one-bit quantization.
However, in future, the compact THz systems
In some modern systems, joint channel es-
such as six generation (6G) mobile commu-
timation and symbol detection are performed
nication system need much smaller miniature
using decision-directed estimation. Due to
antennas such as planar patch antennas and
the propagation characteristic of THz MIMO
multi-function antennas. Therefore, great
channel, the estimation problem (e.g., sparse
efforts should be devoted in the study of the
channel estimation or carrier estimation) can
high performance planar multi- function an-
be formulated as a one-bit compressed sensing
tenna to support different application scenarios
problem, i.e. Y = sgn(AX). Compressed sens-
in THz fields.
ing with one-bit quantized measurements is
As for the THz space communication appli-
a modern paradigm of data acquisition. Usu-
cation, the tracking and pointing antennas are
ally, the threshold/offset considered in one-
the critical devices. Such antennas should have
bit compressed sensing is set to zero. In order
high gain and fast beam scanning function,
to achieve competitive performance than the
which is a great challenge. Fortunately, the
conventional fixed quantization scheme, some
coding metasurface which has been verified
adaptive quantization schemes were devel-
in the microwave region has been developed.
oped in one-bit massive MIMO systems [222].
And then such concept may have a promising
More- over, the threshold parameter which can
prospect in THz region.
be manually set or optimized will achieve rel-
5.4 Low complexity signal atively smaller estimation errors. That is, the
processing in THz band quantization threshold is set to be different for
different training symbols and different anten-
THz communication enables high-rate com-
nas. In practical application, there exists some
munication beyond 100 Gbs and even 1 Tbs
noise in the process of signal acquisition and
within the next decades. The sampling rate of
transmission, and then the states of the signs
the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) scales
will be flipped. To address this issue, some
up corresponding to the larger bandwidths of
robust compressed sensing methods were de-
THz communication. However, It is no longer
veloped to automatically find the outlier errors
feasible to build devices meeting the demands
[223].
for size, weight, power and bandwidth. For
When considering the complexity and per-
example, high speed (e.g. ≥ 10 GSample/s)
formance, an effective multi-measurement
and high precision (e.g. ≥ 6 bits) ADCs are
vector (MMV) algorithm is needed in one-bit
either unavailable or may be too costly and
massive MIMO systems. Fortunately, gener-
power-hungry for devices. To address this
alized approximate message passing yields
obstacle, using low-resolution ADCs (espe-
an excellent combination of estimation accu-
cially one-bit) which are used to quantize the
racy and runtime when compared to existing
received signal will effectively reduce the
methods for the quantization problem [224].
hardware cost and power consumption. The
Nowadays, machine learning [225], [226] is
capacity-achieving input alphabet of a quantiz-
a promising technique for lower complexity
er with Q bins should be discrete and need not
in large massive MIMO systems. A ‘compu-
have more than Q mass points. Although the
tational cell’ can commonly be used in neural
use of one-bit ADCs results in performance
networks and the proposed transceiver cell, so
loss of the communication systems compared
that sub-optimal but efficient neural network
based algorithms can be applied for channel ries, namely deterministic neighbor discovery
estimation in THz communication with one- algorithm and random neighbor discovery
bit quantization. For example, deep neural algorithm. In [232]-[234], the authors have
network (DNN) is a conventional multi-layer studied the random neighbor discovery al-
perceptron with many layers, which is of low gorithm, in which each node in the network
complexity and suitable for classification. randomly selects the time to enter the trans-
mitting or receiving state and there is no
5.5 Directional networking in THz
coordination mechanism among these nodes.
communications
In other words, whether these network nodes
In the future, with the extensive application send messages are independent to each other,
of THz technology in different communica- and then this mode of neighbor discovery will
tion scenarios, the wireless communication spend a lot of time. In [235]-[237], the deter-
networking under the THz environment will ministic neighbor discovery algorithms are
inevitably become a research hotspot. Accord- proposed. The network nodes send messages
ing to the current research, the beams of THz according to the pre-designed scan sequence,
band are relatively narrow compared with which can ensure that the node completes the
lower frequency band and the cover range of neighbor discovery process with probability
THz beams is limited [157]. Thus, the omni- one in a given time. Most existing neighbor
directional networking technique realized by discovery algorithms need to be implemented
the omnidirectional antennas is unable to meet under a time synchronization system, such
the requirements of finding network nodes as [236], [238], [239]. It is assumed in these
quickly, completing directional networking documents that the nodes in the network are
and saving the system energy consumption. time synchronized, that is, the time is divided
In contrary to the omnidirectional antennas by time slots, and each node is kept synchro-
mentioned before, the utilization of directional nized at the slot boundaries. In addition, all
antennas for wireless communication systems the nodes know in advance when to start the
can bring the obvious performance improve- neighbor discovery process and all nodes will
ment to the network [227]-[230]. Also, the start neighbor discovery at the same time.
directional antennas are capable of concentrat- However, in practice, the cost of keeping time
ing the THz wave energy in a particular direc- synchronization among these nodes is very
tion to send messages, usually called the main high, and it is necessary to configure physical
lobe. Besides, when the directional antennas devices such as global positioning system
are used for achieving the directional network- (GPS) for the nodes, which is somewhat
ing, the interference among these neighbor difficult to implement. Therefore, some re-
nodes is significantly reduced, which makes it searchers have already started to consider the
possible for multiple pairs of neighbor nodes neighbor discovery algorithm under the time
to send messages to each other in the network asynchronous system. In [235], the researchers
and greatly increases the network capacity assume that the network nodes perform neigh-
[231]. Last but not the least, the directional bor discovery in different cycle periods, which
antennas can greatly increase the transmission ensures that a pair of neighbor nodes have the
distance for a communication system with a same active time slot in a certain number of
fixed transmission power. The THz-based di- cycles and these same active time slots are
rectional networking problem can be roughly used to discover each other. In [240], [241], a
divided into three parts: neighbor discovery, secure neighbor discovery algorithm has been
topology control, and media access control proposed, which is executed in a time-syn-
(MAC) layer protocol. chronous system while also reduces the signal
With regard to neighbor discovery, existing interference. On the topic of topology control,
algorithms can be divided into two catego- it is more typical that the trade-off between
node degree and jump stretch in directed net- systems for near future beyond 5G.
working is studied, and a new topology control
algorithm is proposed to make this trade-off ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
optimization [242]. In terms of the MAC layer
protocol, the possibility of using directional This work was supported by the National High
antennas for media access control is studied in Technology Research and Development Pro-
the wireless ad hoc networks, pointing out that gram of China (863 program) of China under
the traditional 802.11 protocol is not likely to Grant No.2011AA010200, and supported by
solve the problems caused by the directional the National Natural Science Foundation of
networking and proposes a new type of di- China (NSFC) under Grant No.61771116 and
rectional MAC protocol that outperforms the No.91738102.
IEEE 802.11 protocol [243].
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[231] Y. Wang, J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves, “Spatial reuse Zhi Chen, received the B.E.,
and collision avoidance in ad hoc networks with M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Elec-
directional antennas,” Proc. IEEE Global Telecom- trical Engineering from Univer-
munications Conference, vol. 1, 2002, pp. 112-116. sity of Electronic Science and
[232] S. Vasudevan, J. Kurose, D. Towsley, “On Neigh- Technology of China (UESTC), in
bor Discovery in Wireless Networks with Direc- 1997, 2000, and 2006, respec-
tional Antennas,” Proc. IEEE INFOCOM, vol. 4, tively. On April 2006, he joined
2005, pp. 2502-2512. the National Key Lab of Science
[233] Z. Zhang and B. Li, “Neighbor discovery in and Technology on Communications, UESTC, where he
mobile ad hoc self- configuring networks with has been a professor since 2013. He was a visiting
directional antennas: algorithms and compari- scholar at University of California, Riverside during
sons,” IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communi- 2010-2011. His current research interests include 5G
cations, vol. 7, no. 5, 2009, pp. 1540-1549. mobile communications, tactile internet, and Terahertz
[234] S. A. Borbash, A. Ephremides, M. J. Mcglynn, “An communication. Dr. Chen has served as a reviewer for
asynchronous neighbor discovery algorithm various international journals and conferences, includ-
for wireless sensor networks,” Ad Hoc Networks, ing IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and
vol. 5, no. 7, 2007, pp. 998-1016. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.
[235] P. Dutta, D. Culler, “Practical asynchronous
neighbor discovery and rendezvous for mobile Xinying Ma, received the B.S.
sensing applications,” Proc. ACM Conference on degree from the Southwest Ji-
Embedded Network Sensor Systems, 2008, pp. aotong University, Chengdu,
71-84. China, in 2015, and he received
[236] Z. Zhang, “Performance of neighbor discovery the M.S. degree from the Uni-
algorithms in mobile ad hoc self-configuring versity of Electronic of Science
networks with directional antennas,” Proc. IEEE a n d Te c h n o l o g y of C h i n a ,
Military Communications Conference, vol. 5, Chengdu, China, in 2018. Cur-
2005, pp. 3162-3168. rently, he is pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the Na-
[237] D. Zhang, T. He, Y. Liu, “Poster: Neighbor discov- tional Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on
ery with distributed quorum system,” Proc. In- Communications, University of Electronic of Science
ternational Conference on Embedded Networked and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. His cur-
Sensor Systems, 2011, pp. 369-370. rent research interests include terahertz communica-
[238] Z. S. Zhang, “DTRA: directional transmission and tions, millimeter wave communications, sparse code
reception algorithms in WLANs with directional multiple access and machine learning.
antennas for QoS support,” IEEE Network the
Magazine of Global Internetworking, vol. 19, no. Bo Zhang, received the B.E.
3, 2005, pp. 27-32. degree, M.S. degree, and Ph.D.
[239] W. Xiong, B. Liu, L. Gui, “Neighbor Discovery degree in electromagnetic field
with Directional Antennas in Mobile Ad-Hoc and microwave technology
Networks,” Proc. Global Telecommunications from the University of Elec-
Conference, 2011, pp. 1-5. tronic Science and Technology
[240] R. Zhang, J. C. Sun, Y. C. Zhang, X. X. Huang, of China, Chengdu, China, in
“Jamming-Resilient Secure Neighbor Discovery 2004, 2007, and 2011, respec-
in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks,” Proc. International tively. This author became a Member (M) of IEEE in
Conference on Distributed Computing Systems, 2007, a Senior Member (SM) in 2015. He is currently
2011, pp. 529-538. a Professor at School of Electronic Science and Engi-
[241] R. Zhang, Y. C. Zhang, “Wormhole-Resilient Se- neering, University of Electronic Science and Technol-
cure Neighbor Discovery in Underwater Acous- ogy of China, Chengdu, China. His research interests
tic Networks,” IEEE INFOCOM, 2010, pp. 1-9. are terahertz solid state technology and system.
[242] E. Gelal, G. Jakllari, S. V. Krishnamurthy, “To-
Yaxin Zhang, received the B.Sc. ing. Since September 2013, she has been working
degree from SiChuan University, towards the Ph.D. degree at the National Key Lab of
China, in 2003, and the Ph.D. Science and Technology on Communications (NCL),
degree from University of Elec- UESTC. She was a visiting Ph.D. student under super-
tronics Science and Technology visor of Prof. Athina P. Petropulu at Rutgers, The State
of China (UESTC), Suzhou, Chi- University of New Jersey during 2015-2016. Dr. Li is
na, in 2009. Since 2011, he is now an Associate Professor with Central South Uni-
associate professor for THz Sci- versity. Her research interests cover various aspects
ence and Technology Centre of UESTC. His research of wireless communications, networking, and signal
interests include THz metamaterial and plasmonics, processing, currently focusing on wireless security,
THz functional devices and THz communication. mobile edge computing, and wireless network eco-
nomics.
Zhongqian Niu, received the
B.E. degree in electronic sci- Shaoqian Li, received the B.E.
ence and technology from the degree in communication tech-
University of Electronic Science nology from the Northwest In-
a n d Te c h n o l o g y o f C h i n a stitute of Telecommunication
(UESTC), Chengdu, China, in Engineering (currently, Xidian
2014, where he is currently University), Xi’an, China, in
working toward the Ph.D. de- 1981, and the M.E. degree in
gree in terahertz solid-state devices and systems at information and communica-
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Uni- tion systems from the University of Electronic Science
versity of Electronic Science and Technology of Chi- and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in
na. His research interests are terahertz high speed 1984. In 1984, he joined UESTC as an Academic
communication system, terahertz mixers, and other Member, where he has been a Professor of informa-
terahertz devices. tion and communication systems since 1997 and a
Ph.D. Supervisor since 2000. He is currently the Di-
Ningyuan Kuang, received the rector of the National Key Laboratory of Science and
B.E. degree in Communication Technology on Communications, UESTC. He is the
Engineering from the Universi- holder of over 60 granted and filed patents. His gen-
ty of Electronic Science and eral interests include wireless and mobile communi-
Technology of China (UESTC) in cations, anti-jamming technologies, and signal pro-
2017. He is currently working cessing for communications subjects, on which he
towards his M.E. degree with has authored or coauthored over 100 journal papers,
the National Key Laboratory of 100 conference papers, and two edited books. His
Science and Technology on Communications, UESTC. current research interests include multiple-antenna
His research and study interests are in THz communi- signal processing technologies for mobile communi-
cation and THz wireless data center. cations, cognitive radios, and coding and modulation
for next- generation mobile broadband communica-
Wenjie Chen, received the B.E. tions systems. He has been a member of the Com-
degree in Communication En- munication Expert Group of the National 863 Plan
gineering from the Southwest since 1998 and the Future Project since 2005. He is
Jiao- tong University (SWJTU), currently a member of the Board of Communications
Chengdu, China, in 2014. He is and Information Systems, Academic Degrees Com-
currently working towards the mittee, State Council of China, and the Expert Group
M.E. degree in communication of Key Special-Project on Next- Generation Broad-
at the National Key Laboratory band Wireless Mobile Communications of China (ap-
of Science and Technology on Communications, Uni- proved by the State Council since 2007). He has
versity of Electronic Science and Technology of Chi- served various IEEE conferences as a Technical Pro-
na, Chengdu, China. His research interests include gram Committee (TPC) Member. He was a TPC Co-
massive MIMO and machine learning. Chair of the 2005, 2006, and 2008 IEEE International
Conference on Communications, Circuits, and Sys-
Lingxiang Li, received her B.S. tems. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of
degree from Central South the Chinese Science Bulletin and the Chinese Journal
University, Changsha, China, in of Radio Science.
2010, and the M.S. degree from
University of Electronic Science
a n d Te c h n o l o g y o f C h i n a
(UESTC), Chengdu, China, in
2013, all in Electrical Engineer-

A Survey On Terahertz Communications

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MILLIMETER AND THZ WAVE FOR 5G AND BEYOND

A Survey on Terahertz Communications

China Communications • February 2019 1

2 China Communications • February 2019

China Communications • February 2019 3

4 China Communications • February 2019

(a) of the device.

Fig. 2. Optically controlled blueshift tunable metamaterial device [69].

China Communications • February 2019 5

6 China Communications • February 2019

of the mode can be dynamically controlled,

China Communications • February 2019 7

8 China Communications • February 2019

shown in Fig. 8. Such electrically large anten-

quencies are numerous both for sensing and

China Communications • February 2019 9

10 China Communications • February 2019

China Communications • February 2019 11

12 China Communications • February 2019

tems. However, the more complex codebook V&H Rx

quency beam switching scheme, the uniform

China Communications • February 2019 13

14 China Communications • February 2019

vironment [182]. Through continuous demon- Distance 200 m

signal is transmitted in differential signal to LO module

lation and then the 10.8 GHz output signal is

China Communications • February 2019 15

16 China Communications • February 2019

IV. APPLICATION SCENARIOS IN THZ

In this section, we put forward some extreme-

China Communications • February 2019 17

18 China Communications • February 2019

sumption and reduces the server performance 17 2

to some extent. According to a report from 16 3

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 15 4

2016, the power consumption of data centers 14 5

billion kWh per year that is really unafford- 10 9

services [190]. In brief, the problems faced by

costs at present [191]-[193].

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20 China Communications • February 2019

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22 China Communications • February 2019

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24 China Communications • February 2019

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26 China Communications • February 2019

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28 China Communications • February 2019

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30 China Communications • February 2019

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32 China Communications • February 2019

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34 China Communications • February 2019

China Communications • February 2019 35

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