Novel MAC protocol for terahertz ultra-high data-rate wireless networks

Due to having a large bandwidth to support Gbps-level data rate, terahertz communication attracts more and more attention in recent years. However, there are few medium access control (MAC) protocols for terahertz ultra-high data-rate wireless networks, which affects the research and application of terahertz communications. To address this problem and to achieve ultra-high data-rate wireless access with terahertz communication, a novel MAC protocol, called medium access control for terahertz communication (MAC-TC), is proposed. Through designing a new channel access scheme, a new superframe structure, and related key parameters, MAC-TC can support a maximum data rate up to 10 Gbit/s even higher. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that our proposed MAC protocol realizes the function of medium access control and attains a maximum data rate of 18.3 Gbit/s, which is 2 times higher than 5.78 Gbit/s, the theoretical maximum data rate of IEEE 802.15.3c standard.