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 describing several potential application scenarios. Then, we identify major challenges faced by UWB THz IRS communications. To overcome these challenges, several effective key techniques are developed, i.e., the time delayer-based sparse radio frequency antenna structure, delay hybrid precoding and IRS deployment. Simulation results are also presented to compare the system performance for these proposed techniques, thus demonstrating their effectiveness. Finally, we highlight several open issues and research opportunities for UWB THz IRS communications.
翻译:Terahertz (Thz) 通信因其超广带宽度,是未来无线网络的一个大有希望的技术。然而,Thz 信号受到严重衰减和差分能力差的困扰,因此很容易遇到障碍。为了弥补这两个缺陷并改进系统性能,可以利用智能反射表面(IRS)来改变传播方向并增强信号强度。在本篇文章中,我们调查了这一很有希望的超宽带Thz IRS通信范例。我们从激发我们的研究开始,并描述了几种潜在的应用情景。然后,我们找出了UWB Thz IRS通信所面临的重大挑战。为了克服这些挑战,我们开发了几种有效的关键技术,即基于时间延迟的稀有无线电频率天线结构、延迟混合编码和IRS部署。还介绍了模拟结果,以比较这些拟议技术的系统性能,从而表明其有效性。最后,我们强调了UWB Th IRS 通信的一些公开问题和研究机会。