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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TERAPOD (Terahertz based Ultra High Bandwidth Wireless Access Networks)

Teaser

Summary

The overall TERAPOD objective is to investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of ultra-high bandwidth wireless access networks operating in the TeraHertz (THz) band. The TERAPOD THz communication system will be developed, driven by â€˜beyond 5Gâ€™ usage scenario requirements, demonstrated within the operational setting (Dell EMC Data Center) and will significantly progress innovations across the full communications protocol stack.

TERAPOD pursues the ambitious vision of the short-range Tbps wireless connectivity paradigm, by exploiting 3 of the most promising emerging THz device technologies, namely (1) resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs), (2) uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes (UTC_PDs) and (3) Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) to enable the development and integration of the building blocks required for ultra-broadband communications in the THz spectrum. Therefore, TERAPOD employs a holistic approach where multiple technologies are explored simultaneously in order to identify the architectures where the advantages of each technology can be fully extracted instead of relying on each of the technologies separately. In fact, no single technology will be able to support the requirements of developing THz transceivers with high speed optical/wireless interfaces and electrical/wireless interfaces and receiver architectures. The vision of TERAPOD project is that, to push the boundaries of the THz communications, the combination and integration of multiple technologies is required and should be explored to pave the way for future Tbps wireless communications. Achieving the Tbps wireless connectivity paradigm requires the employment of very high frequency bands above 300 GHz and up to 1 THz, since the frequency bands currently in use (below 100 GHz) do not seem sufficient to accommodate the predicted future data-rate requirements. In fact, while previous research below 100 GHz has been focused on improving spectral efficiency as well as spatial efficiency (with MIMO and beamforming), the use of frequency bands where ultra-high bandwidth channels are available allows for relaxed spectral efficiency requirements which translates into reduced energy consumption, whereas the capacity scale-up of systems operating below 100 GHz will certainly result in a linear scale-up in energy consumption which is problematic.

Work performed

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TERAPOD has initially defined a set of system level requirements for integration of THz communication systems into Data Centre environments. These requirements focused on the environmental and geometric constraints imposed by the Data Centre, as well as high level performance requirements for the wireless channel. These requirements will then be used to inform initial design considerations both at the hardware and software levels.

With regards to the THz communication system components that are being developed, TERAPOD has taken a multi-facet approach by not relying on a single technology option but a set of three technologies for transmission and detection. Uni-travelling Carrier Photodiodes (UTC-PDs) and Resonance Tunnelling Diodes are being developed as sources, where as Schottky Barrier Diodes are being used as detectors. Innovations so far are as follows. For the UTC-PDs, a single UTC-PD has been packaged however the chip experienced suspected electrostatic discharge damage and is not functioning. The packaged design however is finalised. An array of 4 sources are going to be coupled with a Phase Distribution Array Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) which will enabling beam steering. The Phase Array has already been designed and fabricated. This will be packaged in year 2. RTDs of high performance are being fabricated, however issues with dicing and thinning have held up delivery. A number of SBD detectors have been delivered for the 1st generation system. Two antenna designs are being developed to improve the amount of power being extracted from both the UTC-PDs as well as the RTDs. Initial simulated designs have been analysed.
An extensive measurement campaign has been carried out to characterise the THz channel within a Data Centre. This will enable the development of accurate physical layer simulators for the development of physical and data link layer protocols. Initial device characterisation has been carried out to profile off the shelf devices to demonstrate the measurement instrumentation.
Initial structure of the Physical Layer simulator has been defined and will be ready for use in RP2 when the data from the measurement campaign has been processed. Data Link Layer protocol analysis has initially focused on Framing and Error Control under varying error models. In the following year, an improved error model will be integrated with the aim of developing accurate framing and error control strategies for THz communication systems.
Three demonstrators have been initially defined, focusing on an \'insitu\' Data Centre demonstrator, a bench top demonstrator and a full system Data Centre simulation demonstrator. Each demonstrator will validate a specific range of features, with some replication across all three demonstrators.
With regards to dissemination and communication, the TERAPOD project has initiated the Beyond5G cluster made up of all other projects within the ICT-09-2017 \"\"Networking Beyond 5G\"\" call. This has allowed the TERAPOD project to amplify impact of dissemination and communication across all projects. The project has organised various events to promote THz communication.
The TERAPOD project has recoded a total of 10 potential breakthrough innovations emerging from the project and has reported three such to the Innovation Radar scheme of the Commission. The TERAPOD partners are also heavily involved in the IEEE TAG THz group with particular focus on developing the IEEE 802.15.3d THz communication standard.
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Final results

The TERAPOD project aims to demonstrate the first packaged 4 x UTC-PD phase distribution array for beam switching. This will provide higher power and directionality that has been possible thus far within the State of the Art.
The TERAPOD project will also deliver a highly efficient packaged RTD transmitter with integrated horn antenna which will be beyond current state of the art RTD transmitters with regards to power conversion ratio.
The TERAPOD project will deliver packaged SBD receivers with integrated RTD and UTC-PD local oscillators, which will consume the lowest power of any other SBD receivers within the stat of the art.
The TERAPOD project will also provide novel antenna designs for both UTC-PDs, RTDs as well as SBDs to maximise power extraction from the devices.
The TERAPOD project will propose optimised PHY and MAC layer protocol strategies ideally suited towards Data Centre settings and will be pushed towards Standardisation where possible.
The TERAPOD project will provide a suite of open source simulation models for the wider community to develop THz communication protocol extensions for various deployment scenarios.