A MAC Protocol for Terahertz Ultra-High Data-Rate Wireless Networks

Abstract

The terahertz wave is a kind of electromagnetic waves which locates between millimeter waves and infrared lightwaves, and the frequency range is 0.14THz~10THz. Terahertz is used as a carrier wave to communicate with each other because it has large bandwidth which can support Gbps wireless data rates. Therefore, terahertz communication technologies become research hot spots in recent years. However, its still rare in MAC protocol of terahertz ultra-high data-rate wireless networks at present. In order to realize wireless access of ultra-high data-rate under the condition of terahertz carrier frequency, a novel MAC protocol is proposed in this paper. The improved MAC protocol which makes the maximum data rates reach up to 10Gbps or higher is designed by new MAC control mechanisms, new time-slots allocation schemes and new superframe structure. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the new proposed MAC protocol of terahertz ultra-high data-rate wireless networks can operation normally, and the maximum data rate can reach up to 19.2Gbps. This maximum data rate is 2 times higher than 5.78 Gbps which IEEE 802.15.3c can achieve.