Ray Tracing and Measurement-Based Characterization of Inter/Intra-Machine THz Wireless Channels

We characterize the wireless propagation channels at 300 GHz in an industrial environment through measurements and ray tracing simulations. Two different scenarios are considered representing wireless connections between an access point and an industrial machine (inter-machine scenario), and between two components inside the same machine (intra-machine scenario) are considered. For both scenarios, we compute the channel response in terms of power angle delay profile and compare the results obtained through measurements and simulations, which show a good match.

I. Introduction

Terahertz (THz) communications have been identified as a key enabler for the next generation of wireless systems, capable of providing extremely high communication performance and enable accurate sensing, imaging, and localization functionalities. This potential stems from the huge amount of radio resources that are available in the THz frequency range. As a matter of fact, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) already identified a total of 160 GHz of available spectrum between 245 and 450 GHz, and other chunks are expected to be included in the near future. Additionally, systems operating at these frequencies have been successfully used in the past for spectroscopy and imaging purposes [1], making this technology a promising candidate to realize the so-called integrated sensing and communication paradigm.