End-to-end 140 GHz Wireless Link Demonstration with Fully-Digital Beamformed System

Abstract

It is projected that mobile traffic will increase by 80x by year 2030. To meet this increase in demand, it is inevitable to utilize the terahertz bands (0.1 THz to 10 THz) for future 6G wireless systems. However, operating at such high frequency comes with several fundamental and technical challenges. In this work, we present a proof-of-concept system to demonstrate the feasibility of establishing a communication link at 140 GHz carrier frequency. In addition, this work highlights techniques to tackle the challenges that comes with operating in the terahertz regime. To the authors knowledge, this is the world's first end-to-end system with up to 16-channel digitally-beamformed 140 GHz system and dynamic beam steering capability. The paper presents lab results which demonstrate link throughput of 6 Gbps at 15-meter distance with adaptive beamforming.