MAC Protocols for Terahertz Communication: A Comprehensive Survey

Abstract

Terahertz communication is emerging as a future technology to support Terabits per second link with highlighting features as high throughput and negligible latency. However, the unique features of the Terahertz band such as high path loss, scattering, and reflection pose new challenges and results in short communication distance. The antenna directionality, in turn, is required to enhance the communication distance and to overcome the high path loss. However, these features in combine negate the use of traditional medium access protocols (MAC). Therefore, novel MAC protocol designs are required to fully exploit their potential benefits including efficient channel access, control message exchange, link establishment, mobility management, and line-of-sight blockage mitigation. An in-depth survey of Terahertz MAC protocols is presented in this paper. The paper highlights the key features of the Terahertz band which should be considered while designing an efficient Terahertz MAC protocol, and the decisions which if taken at Terahertz MAC layer can enhance the network performance. Different Terahertz applications at macro and nano scales are highlighted with design requirements for their MAC protocols. The MAC protocol design issues and considerations are highlighted. Further, the existing MAC protocols are also classified based on network topology, channel access mechanisms, and link establishment strategies as Transmitter and Receiver initiated communication. Open challenges and future research directions on Terahertz MAC protocols are also highlighted. Index Terms-Terahertz band, terahertz communication network, terahertz technology, terahertz physical layer, terahertz MAC layer, terahertz channel model, terahertz propagation model, terahertz antenna, terahertz transceivers. I. INTRODUCTION T HE DEMAND for wireless data traffic has increased significantly since the evolution of Internet and Mobile Technology and is projected to exceed Petabytes by 2021 [1].

Survey on Terahertz Nanocommunication and Networking: A Top-Down Perspective

“…Moreover, in [35], the authors provide a comparative survey of different Media Access Control (MAC) protocols for WNSN. In [37], the authors provide a survey of MAC protocols for THz band communication in general. In addition, performance analyses of these protocols have been carried out in terms of consumed energy, transmission distance, and probability of collisions.…”

“…In order to position our work in the context of the aboveoutlined contributions (summarized in Table I), it is first relevant to note that these contributions, apart from [36], [37], date from 2016 or before. Several novel proposals have been made on various aspects of THz nanocommunication and nanonetworking in the recent years, ranging from novel protocols in different layers, to THz channel modeling and experimentation tools.…”

Potential key technologies for 6G mobile communications

“…The terahertz frequency band ranges from 0.1 to 10 THz, which is the last span of the radio spectrum and generally considered as a terahertz gap. The terahertz band is envisioned to provide with up to Tbps data speed to satisfy extremely high throughput, low latency, and completely new application scenarios for 6G [20,21] which may not be possible in millimeter-wave bands where the system bandwidth can rarely exceed 1 GHz. The first project in IEEE 802 toward 100 Gbps, IEEE 802.15d, was approved in March 2014, although there is no commercial plan based on this standard.…”

Routing Protocols for Wireless Nanosensor Networks and Internet of Nano Things: A Comprehensive Survey

“…In this direction, several new protocols have been recently proposed. A comprehensive survey that reviews many MAC protocols for TB communication is presented in [111]. This paper highlights the challenges faced and the future research directions In all cases, to maintain a high network throughput, the intended routing protocol must consider the adopted MAC protocol.…”