Nano Communication Networks 13 (2017) 51–59
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Nano Communication Networks
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanocomnet
MA-ADM: A memory-assisted angular-division-multiplexing MAC
protocol in Terahertz communication networks
Chong Han
a,b,
*, Wenqian Tong
a
, Xin-Wei Yao
c
a
University of Michigan–Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
b
Shenzhen Institute of Terahertz Technology and Innovation, Shenzhen, 518101, China
c
College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 31 July 2017
Accepted 3 August 2017
Available online 14 August 2017
Keywords:
Terahertz band
Medium access control
Angular-division-multiplexing
Quantized angular space
a b s t r a c t
Terahertz band communication is envisioned as a key technology to satisfy the increasing demand for
ultra-high-speed wireless links and enable interconnections in a nanonetwork. In this paper, a memory-
assisted medium access control (MAC) protocol with angular-division-multiplexing (ADM) is proposed for
THz communication networks. The service region of an access point (AP) is divided into multiple angular
slots by exploiting the 3D quantized angular space, For efficient service discovery and communications,
a node equips with (i) the omni-directional antennas at the service discovery phase, and (ii) directional
antennas for message transmissions. Moreover, the memory is leveraged in the ADM scheme to assist the
AP to skip the unregistered angular slots to improve the network performance. Based on the proposed
MAC protocol, the analytical models of the interference, SINR, outage probability, throughput and the
delay in the THz network are derived respectively. According to the simulation and numerical analysis,
the results show that our proposed MAC protocol can effectively improve the throughput by over 15% and
substantially reduce the delay, in comparison with the ADM scheme without the memory guidance.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
1. Introduction
The Terahertz (0.1–10 THz) band provides wireless communi-
cation devices with an unprecedentedly large bandwidth, ranging
from several tens of GHz up to a few THz, which can satisfy the
increasing demand of 100 Gbps and even 1 Tbps data rates within
the next decade [1]. The use of this frequency band is envisioned to
address the spectrum scarcity and capacity limitations of current
wireless systems, and boost a plethora of applications, including
ultra-high-speed indoor wireless links (e.g., for virtual reality and
augmented reality), and wireless backhaul and access in small
cell networks [2]. In addition to macro/micro-scale applications,
the THz band will also enable wireless communication among
nanoscale machines or nanomachines [3]. The state of the art
in nanoscale transceivers and antennas points to the THz band
as their frequency range of operation [4]. Applications that are
enabled by the nanomachines range from advanced health mon-
itoring systems to chemical attack prevention systems, wireless
networks on chip to the Internet of Nano-things [5].
Thanks to the very small wavelength at THz frequencies, very
large antenna arrays realizing ultra-massive MIMO [6] can be used
*
Corresponding author at: University of Michigan–Shanghai Jiao Tong Univer-
sity Joint Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
E-mail addresses: chong.han@sjtu.edu.cn (C. Han), light123star@sjtu.edu.cn
(W. Tong), xwyao@zjut.edu.cn (X.-W. Yao).
to enable directional transmissions in the THz network, to over-
come the very high path loss and the limited communication dis-
tance. The highly directional and the ultra-high-speed links in the
network design introduce the following challenges that motivate
this work. First, the focus of the network solutions needs to shift
from access contention to coordination and scheduling. Further-
more, the coordination and scheduling should be compatible with
the very high data rates, the unique channel and physical proper-
ties of the THz band. Second, the interference models that were
studied for omni-directional transmissions need to be revisited in
the THz network. Third, although directional links can substantially
improve the system performance, the difficulty for network dis-
covery increases and the associated deafness problem [7] might
arise. Therefore, the efficiency and performance between the ser-
vice discovery and the data communication need to be balanced.
In this work, we focus on the fundamental problem of the
network design: medium access control (MAC), in a centralized
network. We exploit the quantized angular space and propose a
memory-assisted MAC protocol with angular-division-multiplexing
(ADM) for THz communication networks. The distinctive features
of our work are summarized as follows. First, we present the cen-
tralized THz network architecture, in which there are one access
point (AP) and multiple nodes. The directional links between the
AP and the nodes are confined into a number of angular slots.
Based on the THz communication models, we propose a memory-
assisted MAC protocol with ADM. A flowchart for the protocol is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nancom.2017.08.001
1878-7789/© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.