Researcher(s)
- Zahra Götz, Electrical Engineering, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Mario Mencagli, Electrical Engineering, University of Delaware
Abstract
The terahertz range is electromagnetic waves that have frequencies between 100 GHz and 10 THz. It is becoming increasingly in demand due to the lack of saturation and large bandwidth which allows for much higher data rates compared to lower frequencies. The potential uses of terahertz include augmented reality, off-loading in vehicular environments, medical imaging, and much more. Our research focuses on a fully digital antenna design for wireless communication at 100Ghz. The first part involved designing a radio frequencies (RF) front end that would be able to overcome the high free path loss while also having a low energy budget. We were able to achieve this by having two low bit Analog-to-Digital converters, one IF mixer, and one direct conversion mixer per antenna (with there being 16 or 64 antennae per system) along with other components. The next part is simulating an array antenna unit cell and a linear array antenna. A waveguide helps guide waves by confining the electromagnetic energy to a specific path. They are used in RF communication to direct energy in a controlled way. At high frequencies, the traditional waveguides design of hollow metal is not common because of the increased design complexity. For the 100 GHz band, we simulated a ridge gap waveguide that consists of two rows of metal nails on each side of the central ridge, which prevents any unwanted mm-Wave energy leakage. To do so, we used eigenmode in Ansys HFSS to design and test the ridge gap waveguide. Our research demonstrates the feasibility of integrating high frequency digital antenna systems with advanced waveguide structures. The research offers an efficient, scalable approach to terahertz communication system for future wireless technologies.