Analysis of Propagation Channel Characteristics in an Indoor Office Environment at 160 GHz

One of the requirements for 6G in the 2030s is ultrahigh-speed communications exceeding 100 Gbps and large-capacity communications 10 times that of 5G. In order to realize these requirements, the use of sub-THz bands above 100 GHz is being considered for 6G. In this paper, we report on the measurement and evaluation results of propagation channel characteristics in an office environment in the 160 GHz band, which is one of the frequency bands under consideration for the sub-THz band in 6G. The measurements were made in our office environment, which is approximately 50 m x 16 m in size and 2.7 m in height from ceiling to floor. In this environment, OFDM signals with a bandwidth of 2 GHz were used at 7 LoS (Line-of-Sight) points and 12 NLoS (Non-Line-of-Sight) points, for a total of 19 points. An omni-antenna was used for the transmitter (Tx) at a height of 2 m and a horn antenna was used for the reciever (Rx) at a height of 1 m. The receiving antenna was rotated and measurements were made by SISO channel soundings. The propagation channel characteristics of the delay and angle profiles were obtained at distances from 8.5 m to 35.5 m between the Tx and Rx. The measurement results showed that at the LoS point, the direct wave and the reflected wave at the ceiling and the floor were confirmed, and that at the NLoS point, the reflected wave from the glass window was received more strongly than the reflected wave from the Tx direction. Furthermore, the delay spread in this environment was compared with the CDF at the LoS and NLoS points, and the results were almost the same.