MAC Protocols for Terahertz Communication : A Comprehensive Survey

Ghafoor, Saim and Boujnah, Noureddine and Rehmani, Mubashir Husain and Davy, Alan (2020) MAC Protocols for Terahertz Communication : A Comprehensive Survey. IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 22 (4). pp. 2236-2282. ISSN 1553-877X

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: Manuscript received April 24, 2019; revised November 22, 2019 and June 13, 2020; accepted August 13, 2020. Date of publication August 18, 2020; date of current version November 20, 2020. This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant 761579 (TERAPOD). (Corresponding author: Saim Ghafoor.) Saim Ghafoor was with Emerging Network Laboratory, Telecommunication Systems and Software Group, Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, X91 HE36 Ireland. He is now with the Department of Computing, Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) Company, Donegal, F92 RW3F Ireland (e-mail: sburiro@hotmail.com). Publisher Copyright: © 1998-2012 IEEE.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2200/2208
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Depositing User:	Admin SSL
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2022 23:06
Last Modified:	10 Aug 2023 04:15
URI:	http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/4043

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