A frequency-agile retrodirective tag for large-scale sub-terahertz data backscattering
Atsutse Kludze, Junichiro Kono, Daniel M. Mittleman, Yasaman Ghasempour
Abstract
Backscattering is a promising power-efficient communication technique providing sustainable wireless links with a low carbon footprint. This approach is a critical enabler for dense IoT networks, which are forecast to grow to 41 billion by 2025. However, existing backscatter designs are limited to the sub-6 GHz bands or narrowband operation in the millimeter-wave regime; therefore, they fail to concurrently support many interference-free low-power users. Enabling a frequency-agile wideband backscatter design in the sub-terahertz offers a two-pronged advantage for densely deployed backscatter networks: spatial reuse enabled by directionality and frequency multiplexing enabled by the large available bandwidth. We present the first sub-THz backscatter architecture that operates above 100 GHz. Our design relies on a detailed understanding of reciprocity in leaky-wave devices and offers a realistic joint localization and communication protocol for sub-THz backscatter networks. This study presents the first sub-THz retrodirective wideband backscatter. Instead of phased arrays, it uses key properties of leaky waveguides, i.e., frequency-angle dependency and reciprocity for wideband retro directivity with ultra-low power.