Terahertz communication method and system

• US 10,433,185 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2017
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Waterford Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Waterford Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Barros, Michael, Balasubramaniam, Sasitharan, Mullins, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Joshua L
• Application Number:
  US15/837,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176797A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1264 Adjusting different parts or elements of an aerial unit
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 19/10 using reflecting surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/04 for varying one co-ordinate of the orientation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/391 Modelling the propagation channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

The present disclosure teaches an antenna structure comprising an antenna transmitting a signal in the terahertz band and at least one mirror, which is moveable to reflect a terahertz-band signal from a neighboring antenna. There may be a communication cell comprising a plurality of such antenna structures. The communication cell may define a coverage area. In another embodiment, the present disclosure teaches a method for controlling the antenna structures to improve the performance of the communication cell.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a terahertz-band communication cell having a coverage area and comprising a plurality of antenna structures each having an antenna configured to transmit a signal in the terahertz-band and at least one mirror which is moveable to reflect a terahertz-band signal from a different antenna in the plurality of antenna structures, the method comprising:

dividing the coverage area into an array of tiles;

determining the location of each of the plurality of antenna structures within the coverage area;

determining the location of a transmitter within the coverage area;

calculating the coverage obtained for at least one target tile within the coverage area using the locations of the transmitter and each of the plurality of antenna structures;

determining a desired coverage for at least one target tile within the coverage area;

determining whether the calculated coverage matches the desired coverage and

if there is no match, adjusting at least one mirror of at least one antenna structure to provide the desired coverage.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating the coverage by determining for the at least one target tile at least one of the following properties:

capacity, received power, path loss from the transmitter to the target tile and probability of line of sight between the transmitter and the target tile.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the coverage is calculated using a technique selected from the group consisting of a topographical model, a ray-tracing algorithm, 3-dimensional clipping elimination, hidden surface elimination and a machine learning engine.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the desired coverage based on historical data patterns for users within the coverage area.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the desired coverage by predicting which specific locations within the coverage area have high density of users at particular times.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the desired coverage in real-time for a particular user at the specific location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the at least one mirror comprises moving the at least one mirror to reflect the terahertz-band signal from a neighbouring antenna.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the at least one mirror comprises changing the curvature of the at least one mirror.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the at least one mirror comprises providing a virtual line of sight between the transmitter and the at least one target tile.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the at least one mirror comprises determining, using a machine learning engine, an adjustment to be made to a mirror of an antenna structure and forwarding said determined adjustment to the antenna structure.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining which of the plurality of antenna structures is currently providing a signal to a user and for other antenna structures within the plurality of antenna structures predicting the probability that each other antenna structure will be the next antenna structure to provide the signal to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that the probability for a next antenna structure is above a first threshold value and synchronising the signal between the antenna structure currently providing the signal to the user and the next antenna structure.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that the probability for a next antenna structure is above a second threshold value which is higher than the first threshold value and transferring transmission of the signal from the antenna structure currently providing the signal to the user to the next antenna structure.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps to control a terahertz-band communication cell having a coverage area and comprising a plurality of antenna structures each having an antenna configured to transmit a signal in the terahertz-band and at least one mirror which is moveable to reflect a terahertz-band signal from a different antenna in the plurality of antenna structures, the steps comprising:

dividing the coverage area into an array of tiles;

determining the location of each of the plurality of antenna structures within the coverage area;

determining the location of a transmitter within the coverage area;

calculating the coverage obtained for at least one target tile within the coverage area using the locations of the transmitter and each of the plurality of antenna structures;

determining a desired coverage for at least one target tile within the coverage area;

determining whether the calculated coverage matches the desired coverage and

if there is no match, adjusting at least one mirror of at least one antenna structure to provide the desired coverage.