THz-Over-Fiber System With Orthogonal Chirp Division Multiplexing for Integrated Sensing and Communication

Abstract

To achieve integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) applications with high data rates and high resolution, the terahertz-over-fiber (ToF) system has been recognized as a promising solution. However, the frequency-selective fading would deteriorate the performance of the ToF-based ISAC systems. In this work, we propose the orthogonal chirp division multiplexing (OCDM) waveform-based ToF system for high-performance ISAC applications. The system encodes data with the phase of the sub-chirps and obtains radar images by processing echoes with the zero-padded matched filtering algorithm. We experimentally demonstrate a proof-of-concept OCDM-ToF system, which simultaneously achieves a 32 Gbit/s data rate and 1.875 cm range resolution after transmission over a 10 km optical fiber and a 3.14 m wireless link at the THz band, for the first time. The experimental results indicate that the OCDM-ToF system can enhance robustness against the frequency-selective fading issue, as a benefit improving communication performance with high data rates while preserving the high sensing resolution of OFDM in the THz ISAC applications.