Call for Papers

Today, both academia and industry unanimously agree on the critical role that the sub-terahertz and terahertz bands (i.e., the frequencies between 100 GHz and 10 THz) will play in 6G and beyond, complementing the lower frequency spectrum (sub-6 GHz, the mid bands, and the millimeter waves). The very large bandwidth available at terahertz frequencies can alleviate the spectrum scarcity problem of current wireless networks and open the door to wireless terabit-per-second (Tbps) links needed, for example, to support high-definition holography and immersive extended reality in the fronthaul or to enable ultra-high-capacity wireless backhaul that can bridge the digital divide in rural areas, among many others. In addition, the very small size of terahertz transceivers and antennas (sub-millimetric at terahertz frequencies) leads to extremely small radios that can be non-intrusively embedded effectively everywhere, enabling innovative applications, such as wireless networks on chip and the Internet of Nano-Things, to name a few. Moreover, the terahertz band also opens the door to new forms of wireless sensing beyond radar and localization, including air quality monitoring, climate change study, and even nano-bio-sensing for transformative healthcare applications.

Over the last decade and, particularly, in the last five years, there has been major progress towards making terahertz communication and sensing a reality. On the one hand, the terahertz technology gap has been progressively closed through major advancements in electronic, photonic, and plasmonic technologies. In parallel, the propagation of terahertz signals has been studied through both physics-based and data-driven approaches, debunking some of the myths about the terahertz channel. As a result, today the focus of terahertz research is shifting towards the development of tailored communication and networking solutions (all the way up the protocol stack) that depart from just an extension of common practices at lower frequency bands, and instead capture the real capabilities of terahertz devices and the observed peculiarities of the terahertz channel. On the other hand, scenarios that once considered impossible to realize at terahertz frequencies, such as non-terrestrial networks, are now becoming new fertile grounds for terahertz research. Of course, with the popularization of terahertz technology, other aspects become critical, such as coexistence between the active (e.g., communication and radar) and the passive (e.g., Earth Exploration Satellite Services) users of the terahertz spectrum as well as the study of health effects of terahertz radiation.

This proposed Special Issue is aimed to capture the latest advances in terahertz communications and sensing systems which pave the road towards 6G and beyond. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• New electronic, photonic and plasmonic device technologies, architectures, and demonstrators for terahertz communication and sensing systems.
• Innovative smart antenna systems, including arrays, lenses and metasurfaces, to be used in transmission, reception, and reflection.
• Ultra-broadband digital signal processing architectures and algorithms to support Tbps links.
• Propagation and channel models, including experimental datasets, for diverse application scenarios of terahertz systems, including indoors, outdoors, airborne, space, and intra-body.
• Wavefront engineering for near-field communications in terahertz systems.
• Waveform, modulation coding, and beamforming designs for ultrabroadband terahertz communications and/or sensing.
• Ultra-massive MIMO architectures and control algorithms.
• Terahertz integrated sensing and communication system designs.
• Terahertz joint radar estimation and data communication.
• New networking protocols for ultra-directional ultrabroadband terahertz systems.
• Energy lifecycle modeling.
• Experimental, emulation, and simulation platforms for terahertz systems.
• Coexistence of active and passive users of the spectrum above 100 GHz.
• Spectrum policy and standardization efforts above 100 GHz.
• Health risks and opportunities for terahertz radiation.
• Industry perspectives and use cases at terahertz spectrum of operation.

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should prepare their submissions in accordance with the rules specified in the Information for Authors of the IEEE Wireless Communications guidelines.

Authors should submit a PDF version of their complete manuscript to Manuscript Central. The timetable is as follows:

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 10 July 2023 (Extended Deadline)
Initial Decision Date: 1 August 2023
Revised Manuscript Due: 1 September 2023
Final Decision Date: 1 October 2023
Final Manuscript Due: 1 December 2023
Publication Date: February 2024

Guest Editors

Josep Miquel Jornet
Northeastern University, USA

Nan Yang
Australian National University, Australia

Roger Nichols
Keysight Technologies, USA

Shuai Nie
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA

Chongwen Huang
Zhejiang University, China

Ranjan K. Mallik
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India