Propagation Models, Measurements and Simulations for Wireless Communication Systems beyond 100 GHz

It is expected that future indoor wireless communication systems will be operated at tens of Gbps data rates and that they will be working in mm or sub-mm wave bands. In order to develop systems operating in this frequency range system simulations will be applied. Therefore, propagation models enabling the derivation of channel characteristics, which are used as input to these system simulations, are mandatory. For frequencies beyond 100 GHz, propagation models have to consider reflection and scattering as the most important propagation phenomena apart from line-of-sight propagation. This paper provides an overview of the measurements performed to determine electromagnetic properties of commonly used building materials for the considered frequency bands. Input parameters for these models have been derived based on measurements conducted with a fibre-coupled Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy system, W-band measurements using a vector network analyser, and surface roughness measurements using optical 3D micro and nanometrology. Results from the performance analysis of models for the scattering on rough surfaces of optically thick materials in specular directions and for the reflection from smooth multi-layer indoor building materials will be presented. Finally, it will be shown how these results are incorporated in a simulation environment used to derive maximum achievable data rates with an indoor wireless system operated beyond 300 GHz.