Range and Capacity Considerations for Terahertz-Systems for 6G Mobile and Wireless Communication

Abstract

Discussions on research directions towards systems beyond 5G/6G have started. One of the potential elements of future mobile and wireless systems are new radio systems in the (sub)-Terahertz domain above 100 GHz for communication and sensing purposes. This paper is investigating potentially available frequency bands based on the ITU Radio Regulation, basic propagation conditions above 100 GHz including the different additional path loss contributions on top of distance dependent path loss such as atmospheric and rain attenuation, foliage and wall penetration loss. The impact on system performance like range and channel capacity is considered under idealized conditions at Shannon limit and demonstrated by indoor and outdoor, uplink and downlink scenarios. Radiation limits based on internationally accepted regulations are taken into account in scenarios, where humans are directly involved in the communication. In other scenarios less stringent requirements apply. The main purpose of this paper is to get an understanding from a system perspective of the relation between achievable data throughput versus range and system bandwidth for different propagation conditions and carrier frequency ranges and to investigate basic physical limits. This understanding helps in the identification of use cases, applications and economic considerations on system deployment.