Experimental Validation of Time Reversal Multiple Access for UWB Wireless Communications Centered at the $273$ GHz Frequency

TL;DR

This paper experimentally validates a Time Reversal-based UWB communication scheme at 273 GHz, demonstrating high data rates with minimal antenna separation, suitable for future 6G networks.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for TR UWB communications at 273 GHz and demonstrates its effectiveness for multi-user high-rate wireless links.

Findings

High data rates achieved with 3 mm antenna separation

Effective multi-user communication with simple modulation

Validation of TR scheme at 273 GHz in a waveguide setup

Abstract

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 on the Time Reversal (TR) precoding scheme, which is a computationally simple and robust technique capable of focusing UWB waveforms on both time and space, by exploiting channel diversity when available. We design a novel experimental setup, including a THz link inside a waveguide and operating at the carrier frequency 273.6 GHz with 2 GHz transmission bandwidth, and deploy it to perform multi-user communications with simple modulation. Our results demonstrate large communication rates with only 3 mm space separation of the receiving antennas.