Channel Measurement and Coverage Analysis for NIRS-Aided THz Communications in Indoor Environments

Due to large reflection and diffraction losses in the THz band, it is arguable to achieve reliable links in the non-line-of-sight (NLoS) cases. Intelligent reflecting surfaces, although are expected to solve the blockage problem and enhance the system connectivity, suffer from fabrication difficulty and operation complexity. In this work, non-intelligent reflecting surfaces (NIRS), which are simply made of costless metal foils and have no signal configuration capability, are adopted to enhance the signal strength and coverage in the THz band. Channel measurements are conducted in typical indoor scenarios at 306–321 GHz and 356–371 GHz bands to validate the effectiveness of the NIRS. Results measured with NIRS in different sizes show that large NIRS performs much better than small NIRS. Furthermore, by invoking the NIRS, the additional reflection loss can be reduced by more than 10 dB and the coverage ratio is increased by up to 39% for a 10 dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) threshold.