Terahertz planar antennas for future wireless communication: A technical review

With the monotonic increasing demand of the higher bandwidth for the next generation wireless communication system, the extension of the operating frequency of the communication system to the millimeter/Terahertz wave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum where several low-attenuation windows exist is inevitable. However, before the commercial implementation of the wireless communication in these low-attenuation windows, there are various obstacles which need to be addressed by the scientists and researchers. The atmospheric path loss is the main obstacle to the full-fledged implementation of the terahertz wireless communication. The remedy to this problem is the use of high-power sources, efficient detectors and high gain antenna systems. This paper reviews these technical issues with the special attention to the planar antennas which might contribute to the compact, inexpensive, and low profile future terahertz wireless communication system design. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.