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Terahertz (THz) metasurfaces have emerged as powerful tools to modulate the wavefronts of THz radiation fully. Smart designs and fabrication are essential for enhancing the flexibility and encryption security of THz metasurfaces. In addition to digital coding metasurfaces and microelectromechanical systems, one method to realize dynamic THz metasurfaces is to utilize an active material. In this paper, a dynamic THz metasurface, which is combined with the phase‐change material VO2 and can be thermally controlled to achieve optical encryption, is proposed. Based on the electromagnetically induced transparency effect and by arranging the antennas in advance according to a specific hologram, a secret image can be encoded into the metasurface. At room temperature, the transmitted light field is an irregular light spot with no useful information. If the temperature increases above the phase‐change temperature, the encrypted hologram can be reconstructed. Moreover, owing to the distinct characteristics of VO2, the phase‐change temperature required during decryption is not very high, and the entire process is reversible. It is expected that, in combination with updated processing technology, such metasurfaces can be practically applied to the next generation of optical encryption or optical anticounterfeiting in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two promising technologies cosidered for the Beyond 5G networks are the terahertz and nano-technologies. Besides other possible application areas they hold the commitment to numerous new nano-scale solutions in the biomedical field. Nano-technology, as the name implies, examines the construction and design of nano-sized materials. These two interconnected emerging technologies have the potential to find application in quite many areas, one of the most importan being healthcare. This overview paper discusses the specifics of these technologies, their most important characteristics and introduces some of the trends for their application in the healthcare sector. In the first section terahertz frequency radio waves and their specific properties depending on the surrounding environment are discussed, followed by an introduction to nano-scale communications. Terahertz waves mandate the use of nano-scale antennas, which in turn brings us to the concept of nano-scale nodes. Nano-scale nodes are units that can perform the most basic functions of nano-machines and inter-nano-machine communications, which allow distributed nano-machines to perform more complex functions. Beyond 5G the development of these nano-communications is expected to lead to the emergence of new complex network systems. In the second part of this paper the paradigms of the Internet of Nano Things, molecular commnications and the Internet of Bio-Nano Things are discussed followed by details on their integration in healthcare related applications. The main goal of the article is to provide an introduction to these intriguing issues discussing advanced nano-technology enablers for Beyond 5G networks such as terahertz and molecular communications, nano-communications between nano-machines and the Internet of Bio-Nano-Things in light of health related applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terahertz (THz)-band communications have been envisioned as a key technology to support ultra-high-data-rate applications in 5G-beyond (or 6G) wireless networks. Compared to the microwave and mmWave bands, the main challenges with the THz band are in its i) large path loss hence limited network coverage and ii) visible-light-like propagation characteristics hence poor support of mobility in blockage-rich environments. This paper studies quantitatively the applicability of THz-band communications in blockage-rich mobile environments, focusing on a new network scenario called FlyTera. In FlyTera, a set of hotspots mounted on flying drones collaboratively provide data streaming services to ground users, in the microwave, mmWave and THz bands. We first provide a mathematical formulation of the FlyTera control problem, where the objective is to maximize the network spectral efficiency by jointly controlling the flight of the drone hotspots, their association to the ground users, and the spectrum bands used by the users. To solve the resulting problem, which is shown to be a mixed integer nonlinear nonconvex programming (MINLP) problem, we design distributed solution algorithms based on a combination of echo state learning and reinforcement learning. An extensive simulation campaign is then conducted with SimBAG, a newly developed Simulator of Broadband Aerial-Ground wireless networks. It is shown that no single spectrum band can meet the requirements of high data rate and wide coverage simultaneously. Moreover, from the network-level point of view, THz-band communications can significantly benefit from the mobility of the flying drones, and on average $4 - 6$ times higher (rather than lower) throughput can be achieved in mobile than in static environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) has a great potential to strengthen health care sector, as it paves ways for the development of new services and applications. In making WBAN technically feasible, high Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) and low outage probability plays a vital role. In vivo communication is one where communication between living beings can be carried out wirelessly. It utilizes data gathered in real time for quick and accurate responses in emergency situations. To fully benefit from and further explore the potentiality of WBANs for realistic applications, it is critical to analyze the performance of in vivo WBAN communication over different frequency bands. Over the past many years, Medical Implant Communication System (MICS) band has extensively been used for implant medical applications and Terahertz (THz) band shows promising link capability to support increased data rates. In the proposed work, performance of an in vivo WBAN system, at MICS and Terahertz frequencies based upon IEEE 802.15.6 channel models (CM), CM1 and CM2 has been assessed. The effect of incorporating cooperative communication for in vivo WBAN is then presented to see how it enhances the network performance at both the bands. The impact on the system's SNR and outage probability is investigated for number of relays. The outage behavior of amplify and forward cooperative communication with multiple relays is investigated over a Rayleigh fading channel. Results show considerable increase in the system SNR and decrease in outage probability with increase in number of relays, which strongly indicates the possibility of incorporating cooperative communication to elevate the performance of in vivo WBAN at both MICS and terahertz frequencies. Further, nature inspired optimization is done to reduce the outage probability. Results show that the projected technique surpasses the non-optimized technique and ensures favorable results. The results achieved at THz band have also been compared to that obtained at MICS band and it is demonstrated that better performance can be achieved at THz band by incorporating cooperative communication in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents reconfigurable frequency and polarization FSS-based with photoconductive switches in a single and dual-band operation for antenna applications at the terahertz band. The single band FSS unit-cell element exhibits frequency reconfigurability between 0.62 and 0.7 THz. It also converts the LP waves into CP over a frequency band ranging from 0.59 to 0.8 THz (30% 3-dB BW). The dual-band FSS unit-cell element exhibits frequency reconfigurability between (0.42 and 1.03 THz) when the switches are turned ON and (0.51 THz and 0.865 THz) when the switches are turned OFF. Moreover, it exhibits polarization conversion over two bands from 0.46 to 0.56 THz (20% 3-dB B.W) and from 0.82 to 0.91 THz (12% 3-dB B.W). The dual-band FSS unit-cell element is arranged in a 7 × 7 array and used as a reflector for two dipole antennas (A and B) operating at 0.82 THz and 0.5 THz, respectively. The same dual-band FSS-based surface enhances their gain to about 8.4 dBi and converts their polarization from LP to CP at 0.82 THz and 0.5 THz, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel frequency scanning-based direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation scheme is proposed at terahertz (THz) band. The diffraction enhancement mechanism, focusing the superposition of the diffracted beam radiated from each element in one unit cell, is expanded to the 0.3 THz band. The frequency scanning reflector antenna (FSRA) operating at 235–330 GHz is proposed with high diffraction efficiency. Angular super-resolution algorithm is proposed based on the FSRA. Maximum likelihood (ML) method, traditionally used in array signal processing, is extended to the novel frequency scanning system based on the FSRA. The model of FSRA manifold vector is constructed. A FSRA operating on 0.3 THz frequency band was experimented, based on which the DOA estimation system is constructed. The resolution of the frequency scanning ML algorithm can be obtained on the level of half of the 3 dB beamwidth by the proof-of-principle experiments in 0.3 THz band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in nanotechnology and novel nano materials in the past decade have provided a set of tools that can be used to design and manufacture integrated nano devices, which are capable of performing sensing, computing, data storing and actuation. In this paper, we have proposed cooperative nano communication using Power Switching Relay (PSR) Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) protocol and Time Switching Relay (TSR) WPT protocol over independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels in the Terahertz (THz) Gap frequency band to increase the range of transmission. Outage Probability (OP) performances for the proposed cooperative nano communication networks have been evaluated for the following scenarios: A) A single decode-and-forward (DF) relay for PSR protocol and TSR protocol, B) DF multi-relay network with best relay selection (BRS) for PSR protocol and TSR protocol, and C) DF multi-relay network with multiple DF hops with BRS for PSR protocol and TSR protocol. The results have shown that the transmission distance can be improved significantly by employing DF relays with WPT. They have also shown that by increasing the number of hops in a relay the OP performance is only marginally degraded. The analytical results have been verified by Monte-Carlo simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene plasmonic antennas possess two significant features that render them appealing for short-range wireless communications, notably, inherent tunability and miniaturization due to the unique frequency dispersion of graphene and its support for surface plasmon waves in the terahertz band. In this letter, dipole-like antennas using few-layer graphene are proposed to achieve a better trade-off between miniaturization and radiation efficiency than current monolayer graphene antennas. The characteristics of few-layer graphene antennas are evaluated and then compared with those of antennas based on monolayer graphene and graphene stacks, which could also provide such improvements. To this end, first, the propagation properties of one-dimensional and two-dimensional plasmonic waveguides based on the aforementioned graphene structures are obtained by transfer matrix theory and finite-element simulation, respectively. Second, the antennas are investigated as three-dimensional structures using a full-wave solver. Results show that the highest radiation efficiency among the compared designs is achieved with the few-layer graphene, while the highest miniaturization is obtained with the even mode of the graphene stack antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers face fundamental challenges applying the stochastic geometry framework to analysis of terahertz (THz) communications systems. The two major problems are the principally new propagation model that now includes exponential term responsible for molecular absorption and blocking of THz radiation by the human crowd around the receiver. These phenomena change the probability density function (pdf) of the interference from a single node such that it no longer has an analytical Laplace transform (LT) preventing characterization of the aggregated interference and signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) distributions. The expected use of highly directional antennas at both transmitter and receiver adds to this problem increasing the complexity of modeling efforts. In this paper, we consider Poisson deployment of interferers in ℜ 2 and provide accurate analytical approximations for pdf of interference from a randomly chosen node for blocking and non-blocking cases. We then derive LTs of pdfs of aggregated interference and SIR. Using the Talbot’s algorithm for inverse transform we provide numerical results indicating that failure to capture atmospheric absorption, blocking or antenna directivity leads to significant modeling errors. Finally, we investigate the response of SIR densities to a wide range of system parameters highlighting the specific effects of THz communications systems. The model developed in this paper can be used as a building block for performance analysis of realistic THz network deployments providing metrics such as outage and coverage probabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro and nanorobotics represents one of the most challenging sectors of modern robotics. Through batch fabrication of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), advanced small scale sensing and actuating tasks in a wide area of applications can be performed. Most miniaturized electro-mechanical devices are characterized by low-power and low-memory capacity. The huge number of modular robots introduces the need to explore novel self-reconfiguration algorithms to optimize movement and communication performances in terms of efficiency, parallelism and scalability. Nano-transceivers and nano-antennas operating in the Terahertz Band are already a well acquainted communication paradigm, enforcing nano-wireless networking that can be directly integrated in MEMS microrobots. Several logical topology shape-shifting algorithms are already implemented and tested in literature, along with performance evaluation on nano-wireless use. This article aims to provide an algorithm to reconnect groups of microrobots, along with a novel movement model for microrobotics ensembles introduced to enforce more realistic simulations. Special emphasis is given on the need of novel movement algorithms for swarms of microrobots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has provided a set of tools that the engineers can use to design and manufacture integrated nano devices, which are capable of performing sensing, computing, data storing and actuation. One of the main hurdles for nano devices has been the amount of power that it can generate for transmission of data. In this paper, we proposed cooperative nano communication in the Terahertz (THz) Gap frequency band to increase the range of transmission. Outage probability (OP) performances for the proposed cooperative nano communication networks in the THz band (0.1 - 10THz) have been evaluated for the following scenarios; A) A single decode-and-forward (DF) relay over independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) Rayleigh fading channels, B) DF multi-relay network with best relay selection (BRS) over i.i.d. Rayleigh fading channels, and C) DF multi-relay network with multiple hops with BRS over i.i.d. Rayleigh fading channels. The results show that the transmission distance can be improved significantly by employing DF relays. Also, it is shown that by increasing the number of hops in a relay the OP performance is marginally degraded. The analytical results have been verified by Monte-Carlo simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless nanosensor networks (WNSNs) consist of numerous sensors with a nanoscale size and have many applications, such as the Internet of Nano-Things. The energy storage capacity of nanosensors is very limited; thus, energy efficiency has become an important issue in WNSNs. In this study, we investigate energy-efficient coding strategies and an energy consumption model for WNSNs. First, to map source words with equal probability of occurrence into different longer codewords, the average codeword weight minimization coding is presented. An energy consumption model based on energy consumption analysis is then proposed for WNSNs by jointly accounting for the energy consumption of both sender and receiver. Finally, the performance of the proposed coding scheme and energy consumption model is numerically and analytically investigated. Results show that the proposed coding is a promising scheme for WNSNs with a relatively low bit error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanonetworks, i.e., networks of nano-sized devices, are the enabling technology of long-awaited applications in the biological, industrial and military fields. For the time being, the size and power constraints of nano-devices limit the applicability of classical wireless communication in nanonetworks. Alternatively, nanomaterials can be used to enable electromagnetic (EM) communication among nano-devices. In this paper, a novel graphene-based nano-antenna, which exploits the behavior of Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) waves in semi-finite size Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs), is proposed, modeled and analyzed. First, the conductivity of GNRs is analytically and numerically studied by starting from the Kubo formalism to capture the impact of the electron lateral confinement in GNRs. Second, the propagation of SPP waves in GNRs is analytically and numerically investigated, and the SPP wave vector and propagation length are computed. Finally, the nano-antenna is modeled as a resonant plasmonic cavity, and its frequency response is determined. The results show that, by exploiting the high mode compression factor of SPP waves in GNRs, graphene-based plasmonic nano-antennas are able to operate at much lower frequencies than their metallic counterparts, e.g., the Terahertz Band for a one-micrometer-long ten-nanometers-wide antenna. This result has the potential to enable EM communication in nanonetworks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Wireless NanoSensor Networks (WNSNs), i.e., networks of nanoscale devices with unprecedented sensing capabilities, are the enabling technology of long-awaited applications such as advanced health monitoring systems or surveillance networks for chemical and biological attack prevention. The peculiarities of the Terahertz Band, which is the envisioned frequency band for communication among nano-devices, and the extreme energy limitations of nanosensors, which require the use of nanoscale energy harvesting systems, introduce major challenges in the design of MAC protocols for WNSNs. This paper aims to design energy and spectrum-aware MAC protocols for WNSNs with the objective to achieve fair, throughput and lifetime optimal channel access by jointly optimizing the energy harvesting and consumption processes in nanosensors. Towards this end, the critical packet transmission ratio (CTR) is derived, which is the maximum allowable ratio between the transmission time and the energy harvesting time, below which a nanosensor can harvest more energy than the consumed one, thus achieving perpetual data transmission. Based on the CTR, first, a novel symbol-compression scheduling algorithm, built on a recently proposed pulse-based physical layer technique, is introduced. The symbol-compression solution utilizes the unique elasticity of the inter-symbol spacing of the pulse-based physical layer to allow a large number of nanosensors to transmit their packets in parallel without inducing collisions. In addition, a packet-level timeline scheduling algorithm, built on a theoretical bandwidth-adaptive capacity-optimal physical layer, is proposed with an objective to achieve balanced single-user throughput with infinite network lifetime. The simulation results show that the proposed simple scheduling algorithms can enable nanosensors to transmit with extremely high speed perpetually without replacing the batteries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In multiple-input-multiple-output synthetic aperture radar (MIMO-SAR) systems, sparse arrays are usually applied, resulting in increased sidelobes of the point spread function. In this paper, a phase shift migration (PSM) imaging algorithm based on the explosion reflection model with modified coherent factor was proposed for sidelobe suppression in MIMO-SAR three-dimensional (3D) imaging application. By defining the virtual difference wavenumber, reconstructing the raw echo by data rearrangement in wavenumber domain, the original coherent factor algorithm operating in spatial domain can be achieved by the PSM algorithm frame in the wavenumber domain, which means two orders of magnitude increase in computational efficiency. The correctness of the theory is verified by simulation. Finally, a bistatic prototype imaging system in the 0.3 THz band was designed for the proof-of-principle experiments. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has a 0.948 structural similarity value to the original coherent factor back-projection algorithm (CF-BPA) which means comparable image quality with much superior efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibration induces a micro-Doppler effect, which contains crucial motion information and features of the micro-motion target. However, the traditional radar can only acquire micro-motion information in the radial direction. The multi-channel radar is capable of acquiring actual micro-motion information in a three-dimensional space, including amplitude, frequency, and three-dimensional direction of vibration. Moreover, the high-accuracy parameter estimation can be achieved in the terahertz band. In this paper, a method for three-dimensional micro-motion feature exaction and parameter estimation is proposed, including a phase-derived-range algorithm, interference, and auto-correlation. Meanwhile, to prove feasibility of the method, the results of simulations and experiment based on a 0.22 THz multi-channel radar system are presented after theoretical analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the state of emerging transistor technologies capable of terahertz amplification, as well as the state of transistor modeling as required in terahertz electronic circuit research. Commercial terahertz radar sensors of today are being built using bulky and expensive technologies such as Schottky diode detectors and lasers, as well as using some emerging detection methods. Meanwhile, a considerable amount of research effort has recently been invested in process development and modeling of transistor technologies capable of amplifying in the terahertz band. Indium phosphide (InP) transistors have been able to reach maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) values of over 1 THz for around a decade already, while silicon-germanium bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) compatible heterojunction bipolar transistors have only recently crossed the fmax = 0.7 THz mark. While it seems that the InP technology could be the ultimate terahertz technology, according to the fmax and related metrics, the BiCMOS technology has the added advantage of lower cost and supporting a wider set of integrated component types. BiCMOS can thus be seen as an enabling factor for re-engineering of complete terahertz radar systems, for the first time fabricated as miniaturized monolithic integrated circuits. Rapid commercial deployment of monolithic terahertz radar chips, furthermore, depends on the accuracy of transistor modeling at these frequencies. Considerations such as fabrication and modeling of passives and antennas, as well as packaging of complete systems, are closely related to the two main contributions of this paper and are also reviewed here. Finally, this paper probes active terahertz circuits that have already been reported and that have the potential to be deployed in a re-engineered terahertz radar sensor system and attempts to predict future directions in re-engineering of monolithic radar sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]