Diffraction measurements at 60 GHz and 300 GHz for modeling of future THz communication systems

Indoor wireless communication channels will be operated in the 60 GHz band soon and will work at 300 GHz and beyond in the foreseeable future. Although diffraction occurs at a multitude of objects in indoor environments and needs to be considered for reliable propagation simulations, very few work exists on this topic in the mm and sub-mm wave bands. Here, we present measurements of the diffraction at wedges (cuboids) at 300 GHz with different materials and real antennas. The measurements are used to validate theoretic descriptions of diffraction phenomena.

I. Introduction and background

The development of future THz communication systems will require the exact knowledge of the radio channel properties [1]. While the feasibility of signal transmission in the lower THz frequency range has been demonstrated successfully [2]–[4], few work has been done on actually measuring channel transfer functions [5]. However, the reliable prediction of coverage and system performance based on ray tracing simulations [1] requires the accurate knowledge of reflection properties of materials present in the considered scenario [6] as well as the proper modeling of scattering and diffraction effects. A very recent study including angular resolved and 1D translatory diffraction measurements in comparison to calculations based on the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) and the knife edge diffraction (KED) showed the importance of diffraction for propagation modeling in the THz frequency range [7]. These measurements are now extended to 2D studies including considerations of occurring measurement uncertainties [8], [9].