Benefiting from the ultra-wide bandwidth, terahertz (THz) communication is becoming a promising technology for future 6G networks. For THz communication, precoding is an essential technique to overcome the severe path loss of THz signals in order to support the desired coverage. In this article, we systematically investigate the dominant THz precoding techniques for future 6G networks, with the highlight on its key challenges and opportunities. Specifically, we first illustrate three typical THz application scenarios including indoor, mobile, and satellite communications. Then, the major differences between millimeter-wave and THz channels are explicitly clarified, based on which we reveal the key challenges of THz precoding, such as the distance-dependent path loss, the beam split effect, and the high power consumption. To address these challenges, three representative THz precoding techniques, i.e., analog beamforming, hybrid precoding, and delay-phase precoding, are extensively investigated in terms of their different structures, designs, most recent results, pros and cons. We also provide simulation results of spectrum and energy efficiencies to compare these typical THz precoding schemes to draw some insights for their applications in future 6G networks. Finally, several important open issues and the potential research opportunities, such as the use of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) to solve the THz blockage problem, are pointed out and discussed.
Benefiting from the growth of the bandwidth, Terahertz (THz) communication can support the new application with explosive requirements of the ultra-high-speed rates for future 6G wireless systems. In order to compensate for the path loss of high frequency, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) can be utilized for high array gains by beamforming. However, since a large number of analog phase shifters should be used to realize the analog beamforming, the existing THz communication with massive MIMO has very high energy consumption. To solve this problem, a reconfigurable intelligent surf…
A new approach is presented to the problem of compensating the beam squint effect arising in wideband terahertz (THz) hybrid massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, based on the joint optimization of the phase shifter (PS) and true-time delay (TTD) values under per-TTD device time delay constraints. Unlike the prior approaches, the new approach does not require the unbounded time delay assumption; the range of time delay values that a TTD device can produce is strictly limited in our approach. Instead of focusing on the design of TTD values, we jointly optimize both the TTD and …
Benefiting from tens of GHz bandwidth, terahertz (THz) communication is considered to be a promising technology to provide ultra-high speed data rates for future 6G wireless systems. To compensate for the serious propagation attenuation of THz signals, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with hybrid precoding can be utilized to generate directional beams with high array gains. However, the standard hybrid precoding architecture based on frequency-independent phase-shifters cannot cope with the beam split effect in THz massive MIMO systems, where the directional beams will split into …
In this paper, the performance of indoor Terahertz (THz) communication systems with one-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) is investigated. Array-of-subarrays architecture is assumed for the antennas at the access points, where each RF chain uniquely activates a disjoint subset of antennas, each of which is connected to an exclusive phase shifter. Hybrid precoding, including maximum ratio transmission (MRT) and zero-forcing (ZF) precoding, is considered. The best beamsteering direction for the phase shifter in the large subarray antenna regime is first proved to be the direction of the li…
In terahertz (THz) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the combination of huge bandwidth and massive antennas results in severe beam split, thus making the conventional phase-shifter based hybrid precoding architecture ineffective. With the incorporation of true-time-delay (TTD) lines in the hardware implementation of the analog precoders, delay-phase precoding (DPP) emerges as a promising architecture to effectively overcome beam split. However, existing DPP approaches suffer from poor performance, high complexity, and weak robustness in practical THz channels. In this pape…
Envisioned use cases of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) impose new service requirements in terms of data rate, latency, and sensing accuracy, to name a few. If such requirements are satisfactorily met, it can create novel applications and enable highly reliable and harmonized integration of UAVs in the 6G network ecosystem. Towards this, terahertz (THz) bands are perceived as a prospective technological enabler for various improved functionalities such as ultra-high throughput and enhanced sensing capabilities. This paper focuses on THzempowered UAVs with the following capabilities: communicat…
Terahertz (THz) communication is a promising technology for future wireless networks due to its ultra-wide bandwidth. However, THz signals suffer from severe attenuation and poor diffraction capability, making it vulnerable to blocking obstacles. To compensate for these two shortcomings and improve the system performance, an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) can be exploited to change the propagation direction and enhance the signal strength. In this article, we investigate this promising ultra wide band (UWB) THz IRS communication paradigm. We start by motivating our research and describin…
Xidian University（西安电子科技大学）；Southeast University（东南大学）；Information Engineering University（信息工程大学）；Peng Cheng Laboratory（鹏城实验室）；University of New South Wales（新南威尔士大学）
Many emerging technologies, such as ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (UM-MIMO), terahertz (THz) communications are under active discussion as promising technologies to support the extremely high access rate and superior network capacity in the future sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems. However, such technologies are still facing many challenges for practical implementation. In particular, UM-MIMO and THz communication require extremely large number of radio frequency (RF) chains, and hence suffering from prohibitive hardware cost and complexity. In this article, we …
Consider media streaming in MIMO interference networks whereby multiple base stations (BS) simultaneously deliver media to their associated users using fixed data rates. The performance is fundamentally limited by the cross-link interference. We propose a cache-induced opportunistic cooperative MIMO (CoMP) for interference mitigation. By caching a portion of the media files, the BSs opportunistically employ CoMP to transform the cross-link interference into spatial multiplexing gain. We study a mixed-timescale optimization of MIMO precoding and cache control to minimize the transmit power unde…
Mobility and blockage are two critical challenges in wireless transmission over millimeter-wave (mmWave) and Terahertz (THz) bands. In this paper, we investigate network massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission for mmWave/THz downlink in the presence of mobility and blockage. Considering the mmWave/THz propagation characteristics, we first propose to apply per-beam synchronization for network massive MIMO to mitigate the channel Doppler and delay dispersion effects. Accordingly, we establish a transmission model. We then investigate network massive MIMO downlink transmission …
Terahertz (THz) communications have been envisioned as a promising enabler to provide ultra-high data transmission for sixth generation (6G) wireless networks. To tackle the blockage vulnerability brought by severe path attenuation and poor diffraction of THz waves, an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is put forward to smartly control the incident THz waves by adjusting the phase shifts. In this paper, we firstly design an efficient hardware structure of graphene-based IRS with phase response up to 306.82 degrees. Subsequently, to characterize the capacity of the IRS-enabled THz multiple-i…
Mobile communications have been undergoing a generational change every ten years or so. However, the time difference between the so-called "G's" is also decreasing. While fifth-generation (5G) systems are becoming a commercial reality, there is already significant interest in systems beyond 5G, which we refer to as the sixth-generation (6G) of wireless systems. In contrast to the already published papers on the topic, we take a top-down approach to 6G. We present a holistic discussion of 6G systems beginning with lifestyle and societal changes driving the need for next generation networks. Thi…
Recurrent Transformer-Based Near- and Far-Field THz Wideband Channel Estimation for UM-MIMO
Center for Next Generation Wireless and IoT（下一代无线与物联网中心）；Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology（斯克尔科夫科学与技术研究所）；Department of IEOR（工业工程与运营研究系）；Indian Institute of Technology Bombay（孟买印度理工学院）；Faculty of Computer and Engineering Sciences（计算机与工程科学学院）；Innopolis University（因诺波利斯大学）
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication technology offers a potential and promising solution to support 5G and B5G wireless networks in dynamic scenarios and applications. However, mobility introduces many challenges as well as opportunities to mmWave applications. To address these problems, we conduct a survey of the opportunities and technologies to support mmWave communications in mobile scenarios. Firstly, we summarize the mobile scenarios where mmWave communications are exploited, including indoor wireless local area network (WLAN) or wireless personal area network (WPAN), cellular access,…
Ultra-high data rates with low-power consumption wireless communications and low-complexity receivers is one of the key requirements for the next 6-th Generation (6G) of communication networks. Sub-Terahertz (SubTHz) frequency bands can support Ultra-WideBand (UWB) communications and can thus offer unprecedented increase in the wireless network capacity, rendering those bands and relevant research a strong candidate technology for 6G. However, in contrast to millimeter-wave communications, the technological advances in subTHz transceivers are not yet completely mature. In this paper, we focus …
The bloom of the fifth generation (5G) communication and beyond serves as a catalyst for physical layer key generation techniques. In 5G communications systems, many challenges in traditional physical layer key generation schemes, such as co-located eavesdroppers, the high bit disagreement ratio, and high temporal correlation, could be overcome. This paper lists the key-enabler techniques in 5G wireless networks, which offer opportunities to address existing issues in physical layer key generation. We survey the existing key generation methods and introduce possible solutions for the existing …
