Statistical characterization and analysis of low-THz communication channel for 5G Internet of Things

This paper presents measurements and statistical characterization to compare three potential bands of the low-THz channel, namely, the 300 to 319 GHz, 340 to 359 GHz and 380 to 399 GHz bands. From the large set of measurements performed in line-of-sight (LoS) and non-LoS (NLoS) environments, parameters for path loss model with shadowing are evaluated. Our results show that the path loss exponents for the band around 310 GHz, 350 GHz, and 390 GHz is 2.07, 1.90 and 1.96, respectively. The impacts of different materials acting as surfaces in LoS channels and reflectors in NLoS environments are also examined. Additionally, the statistical analysis due to temporal, spatial and multipath propagation is performed to determine the best fit distributions. Finally, we look at some networking scenarios in THz Band communication to derive the expressions for the number of connections a user can make based on antenna characteristics, data rate requirements and antenna mobility as well as network density. Our results suggest fundamental parameters that can be used in future THz Band analysis with applications in both macro and micro scale Internet of Things (IoT). (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.