A Platform for Implementing a Full Protocol Stack Over Sub-Terahertz Communication Links

Sub-terahertz and terahertz communications are key enabling technologies for future communication systems, and in the past few decades, many theoretical and experimental works have explored possible physical layer implementations. Some theoretical works have also explored link or medium access control (MAC) layer solutions. However, there have been few implementations of the entire protocol stack using terahertz or sub-terahertz links. This work presents a platform implementing the whole protocol stack through Wi-Fi 6. The upload and download speeds of a Wi-Fi 6 sub-terahertz link are given, and the results indicate the need to optimize and specifically design the layers of the protocol stack for sub-terahertz and terahertz communications.