Live Streaming of the Uncompressed HD and 4K Videos Using Terahertz Wireless Links

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a photonics-based Terahertz wireless system capable of live streaming uncompressed HD and 4K videos at 138 GHz over 1 meter, using commercially available components and achieving error-free data transmission.

Contribution

It presents a novel hybrid THz communication system for high-quality video streaming, utilizing all commercially available hardware and demonstrating real-time 4K video transmission.

Findings

Error-free transmission at 5.5 Gbps over 1 meter

Successful live streaming of uncompressed 4K video

System built with commercially available components

Abstract

Taming the Terahertz waves (100 GHz-10 THz) is considered the next frontier in wireless communications. While components for the ultra-high bandwidth Terahertz wireless communications were in rapid development over the past several years, however, their commercial availability is still lacking. Nevertheless, as we demonstrate in this paper, due to recent advances in the microwave and infrared photonics hardware, it is now possible to assemble high performance hybrid THz communication systems for real-life applications. As an example, in this work, we present design and performance evaluation of the photonics-based Terahertz wireless communication system for the transmission of uncompressed 4K video feed that is built using all commercially available system components. In particular, two independent tunable lasers operating in the infrared C-band are used as a source for generating the Terahertz carrier wave using frequency difference generation in a photomixer. One of the IR laser beams carries the data which is intensity modulated using the LiNbO3 electro-optic modulator. A zero bias Schottky detector is used as the detector and demodulator of the data stream followed by the high-gain and low-noise pre-amplifier. The Terahertz carrier frequency is fixed at 138 GHz and the system is characterized by measuring the bit error rate for the pseudo random bit sequences at 5.5 Gbps. By optimizing the link geometry and decision parameters, an error-free (BER<10-10) transmission at a link distance of 1m is achieved. Finally, we detail integration of a professional 4K camera into the THz communication link, and demonstrate live streaming of the uncompressed HD and 4K video followed by analysis of the link quality.