Despite such challenges as high path loss and equipment cost, THz communication is becoming one of the potentially viable means through which ultra-high data rate can be achieved. To compensate for the high path loss, we present parameter modeling for indoor THz communication. To maximize efficient and opportunistic use of resources, we analyze the potential workarounds for a single access point to satisfy most of the mobile terminals by varying such parameters as humidity, distance, frequency windows, beamwidths, antenna placement, and user mobility type. One promising parameter is antenna beamwidth, where narrower beams results in higher antenna gain. However, this can lead to "\textit{beamwidth dilemma}" scenario, where narrower beamwidth can result in significant outages due to device mobility and orientation. In this paper, we address this challenge by presenting a mobility model that performs an extensive analysis of different human mobility scenarios, where each scenario has different data rate demands and movement patterns. We observe that for mobile users, there are optimal beamwidths that are affected by the mobility type (high mobility, constrained mobility, and low mobility) and AP placement.
The increasing demand for ultra-high throughput in ultra-dense networks might take a toll on 5G capacity. Moreover, with Internet-of-Things (IoT) and the growing use-cases for indoor killer-applications, it will be necessary to look beyond 5G technologies. One such promising technology is to move higher in the frequencies, such as the THz ($300$ $GHz$-$10$ $THz$) spectrum. THz has a massive number of greenfield-contiguous channels ranging from $10$ $GHz$ to $200$ $GHz$ (best case), which was not available in the traditional radio frequency (RF) or millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. Although THz h…
Ultra-densification of user equipment (UE) and access points (APs) are anticipated to take a toll on the future spectrum needs. Higher frequency bands, such as mmWave ($30$-$300GHz$) and THz spectrum ($0.3$-$10THz$), can be used to cater to the high-throughput needs of ultra-dense networks. These high-frequency bands have a tremendous amount of \textit{green-filed contiguous spectrum}, ranging in hundreds of $GHz$. However, these bands, especially the THz bands, face numerous challenges, such as high spreading, absorption, and penetration losses. To combat these challenges, the THz-APs need to…
The emerging dynamic Virtual Reality (VR) applications are the best candidate applications in high bandwidth indoor Terahertz (THz) wireless networks, with the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) devices presenting a breakthrough solution in extending the typically short THz communication range and alleviating line-of-sight link blockages. In future smart factories, it is envisioned that factory workers will use VR devices via VR application data with high quality resolution, while transmitting over THz links and RIS devices, enabled by the Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities. Since …
Modeling human mobility has a wide range of applications from urban planning to simulations of disease spread. It is well known that humans spend 80% of their time indoors but modeling indoor human mobility is challenging due to three main reasons: (i) the absence of easily acquirable, reliable, low-cost indoor mobility datasets, (ii) high prediction space in modeling the frequent indoor mobility, and (iii) multi-scalar periodicity and correlations in mobility. To deal with all these challenges, we propose WiFiMod, a Transformer-based, data-driven approach that models indoor human mobility at …
The terahertz (THz) band, 0.1-10 THz, has sufficient resources not only to satisfy the 5G requirements of 10 Gbit/s peak data rate but to enable a number of tempting rate-greedy applications. However, the THz band brings novel challenges, never addressed at lower frequencies. Among others, the scattering of THz waves from any object, including walls and furniture, and ultra-wideband highly-directional links lead to fundamentally new propagation and interference structures. In this article, we review the recent progress in THz propagation modeling, antenna and testbed designs, and propose a ste…
In the future, with the advent of Internet of Things (IoT), wireless sensors, and multiple 5G killer applications, an indoor room might be filled with $1000$s of devices demanding low data rates. Such high-level densification and mobility of these devices will overwhelm the system and result in higher interference, frequent outages, and lower coverage. The THz band has a massive amount of greenfield spectrum to cater to this dense-indoor deployment. However, a limited coverage range of the THz will require networks to have more infrastructure and depend on non-line-of-sight (NLOS) type communi…
Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）；Instituto de Telecomunicações（电信研究所）
5G will enable the growing demand for Internet of Things (IoT), high-resolution video streaming, and low latency wireless services. Demand for such services is expected to growth rapid, which will require a search for Beyond 5G technological advancements in wireless communications. Part of these advancements is the need for additional spectrum, namely moving toward the terahertz (THz) range. To compensate for the high path loss in THz, narrow beamwidths are used to improve antenna gains. However, with narrow beamwidths, even minor fluctuations in device location (such as through body movement)…
Future (beyond 5G) wireless networks will demand high throughput and low latency and would benefit from greenfield, contiguous, and wider bandwidth, all of which THz spectrum can provide. Although THz has been envisioned to be deployed in an indoor setting, with proper enforcement and planning, we can draw a limited number of use cases for outdoor THz communication. THz can provide high capacity and ultra-high throughput but at the cost of high path loss and sensitivity to device orientation/mobility.. We identify scenarios where the use of the THz spectrum for an outdoor setting is justified …
Real-World Deployment of Cloud-based Autonomous Mobility Systems for Outdoor and Indoor Environments
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo（滑铁卢大学机械与机电工程系）；Technology Partnerships and Innovations, Rogers Communications, Canada Inc.（罗杰斯通讯加拿大有限公司技术伙伴关系与创新部）；Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Alberta（阿尔伯塔大学机械工程系）
University of Piraeus（比雷埃夫斯大学）；RapidMiner GmbH（RapidMiner有限公司）；Nokia Standardization Department（诺基亚标准化部）；Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；CentraleSupélec（巴黎中央理工-高等电力学院）
Terahertz (THz) wireless networks are expected to catalyze the beyond fifth generation (B5G) era. However, due to the directional nature and the line-of-sight demand of THz links, as well as the ultra-dense deployment of THz networks, a number of challenges that the medium access control (MAC) layer needs to face are created. In more detail, the need of rethinking user association and resource allocation strategies by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) capable of providing "real-time" solutions in complex and frequently changing environments becomes evident. Moreover, to satisfy the ul…
One of the main aims of indoor visible light communication (VLC) systems is to deliver a high data rate service in single user and in multiuser scenarios. A key obstacle is the ability of the indoor VLC channel to support high data rates in the scenarios of interest. Here, we assess the potential of a multi-branch transmitter (MBT) and its use to achieve higher data rates in single user and multiuser indoor VLC systems. For the single user VLC system, the performance of the MBT is examined with a wide field of view (W-FOV) receiver and an angle diversity receiver (ADR) while for the multiuser …
Indoor positioning is currently recognized as one of the important features in emergency, commercial and industrial applications. The 5G network enhances mobility, flexibility, reliability, and security to new higher levels which greatly benefit the IoT and industrial applications. Industrial IoT (IIoT) use-cases are characterized by ambitious system requirements for positioning accuracy in many verticals. For example, on the factory floor, it is important to locate assets and moving objects such as forklifts. The deployment design for different IIoT environments has a significant impact on th…
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications（北京邮电大学）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Virginia Tech（弗吉尼亚理工大学）；the Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学）；Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data（深圳大数据研究院）；Peng Cheng Laboratory（鹏城实验室）
In this paper, the problem of enhancing the quality of virtual reality (VR) services is studied for an indoor terahertz (THz)/visible light communication (VLC) wireless network. In the studied model, small base stations (SBSs) transmit high-quality VR images to VR users over THz bands and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) provide accurate indoor positioning services for them using VLC. Here, VR users move in real time and their movement patterns change over time according to their applications, where both THz and VLC links can be blocked by the bodies of VR users. To control the energy consumption …
Next-generation wireless systems are rapidly evolving from communication-only systems to multi-modal systems with integrated sensing and communications. In this paper a novel joint sensing and communication framework is proposed for enabling wireless extended reality (XR) at terahertz (THz) bands. To gather rich sensing information and a higher line-of-sight (LoS) availability, THz-operated reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) acting as base stations are deployed. The sensing parameters are extracted by leveraging THz's quasi-opticality and opportunistically utilizing uplink communicatio…
This paper describes and evaluates the use of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for path planning in support of smart mobility applications such as indoor and outdoor navigation applications, individualized wayfinding for people with disabilities (e.g., vision impairments, physical disabilities, etc.), path planning for evacuations, robotic navigations, and path planning for autonomous vehicles. We propose an architecture based on GANs to recommend accurate and reliable paths for navigation applications. The proposed system can use crowd-sourced data to learn the trajectories and infer ne…
We consider the problem of proactive handoff and beam selection in Terahertz (THz) drone communication networks assisted with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). Drones have emerged as critical assets for next-generation wireless networks to provide seamless connectivity and extend the coverage, and can largely benefit from operating in the THz band to achieve high data rates (such as considered for 6G). However, THz communications are highly susceptible to channel impairments and blockage effects that become extra challenging when accounting for drone mobility. RISs offer flexibility t…
Wireless communication environments comprise passive objects that cause performance degradation and eavesdropping concerns due to anomalous scattering. This paper proposes a new paradigm, where scattering becomes software-defined and, subsequently, optimizable across wide frequency ranges. Through the proposed programmable wireless environments, the path loss, multi-path fading and interference effects can be controlled and mitigated. Moreover, the eavesdropping can be prevented via novel physical layer security capabilities. The core technology of this new paradigm is the concept of metasurfa…
One of the consequences of network densification is more frequent handovers (HO). HO failures have a direct impact on the quality of service and are undesirable, especially in scenarios with strict latency, reliability, and robustness constraints. In traditional networks, HO-related parameters are usually tuned by the network operator, and automated techniques are still based on past experience. In this paper, we propose an approach for optimizing HO thresholds using Bayesian Optimization (BO). We formulate a multi-objective optimization problem for selecting the HO thresholds that minimize HO…
With the exponentially increased demands for large bandwidth, it is important to think about the best network platform as well as the security and privacy of the information in communication networks. Millimetre (mm)-waves and terahertz (THz) with high carrier frequency are proposed as the enabling technologies to overcome Shannons channel capacity limit of existing communication systems by providing ultrawide bandwidth signals. Mm-waves and THz are also able to build wireless links compatible with optical communication systems. However, most solid-state components that can operate reasonably …
