Demonstrator measurement system for 5G/6G materials characterisation

COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the need for improved internet connectivity and broadband capabilities, highlighting the need for higher bandwidth. There are an estimated 1.5 billion children who need online schooling (with 30,000 schools in the UK alone closed), and businesses world-wide have moved their operations online. In addition, reports emphasize that the transition to digital learning and business will be especially challenging within lower-income and disadvantages neighbourhoods where broadband adoption rates more often rely [on wireless][0] connections. High speed, wireless technology will therefore be increasingly be an important to both enhance connectivity to combat the economic effects of the virus as well as ensuring equal access to high quality internet for a more inclusive society. To address this challenge, emerging 5G and 6G wireless platforms will use progressively higher frequencies in the 100 Gigahertz (GHz)-1Terahertz (THz) range to achieve 1 Terabit (1012 bit) per second data rates required for broadband. A recent Photonics report stated "**It is not surprising that the THz band has become the promised land for the envisioned next generation of wireless communication---6G**".

Development of devices (transceivers and circuits) at these 6G frequencies requires test & measurement equipment operating at these frequencies. Existing equipment based on vector network analysers provides continuous frequency coverage up to only ~ 30GHz, and with limited (banded) coverage available thereafter. Such systems are also prone to errors, e.g. in measuring the phase of data stitched between different frequency bands, as well as the errors arising when probing small samples.

TeraView is the pioneer in the commercialization and development of Terahertz systems, and is in a unique position to develop and deploy a system optimised for test and measurement of materials for use in Terabit communications

The project has direct benefits to the UK economy, ensuring that TeraView continues as the world-leader in Terahertz technology. It also enables the UK to play a role in emerging global discussion on the allocations of the new frequency band for 6G.

[0]: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/20/smartphones-help-blacks-hispanics-bridge-some-but-not-all-digital-gaps-with-whites/