Knightly, Edward W.2024-01-242024-01-242023-122023-11-30December 2Zhao, Bin. "Curving sub-THz Wireless Links around Obstacles." (2023). Master's thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115389https://hdl.handle.net/1911/115389A key challenge in millimeter-wave and terahertz wireless networks is the blockage of the line-of-sight path between a base station and a user. Blockage of highly directional beams by intervening people or objects can lead to link disruptions and poor quality of service. In this thesis, we propose a solution to this problem that leverages self-accelerating beams that propagate along curved trajectories for link maintenance. To achieve this, we propose the design of a metasurface and a phase plate capable of spatially modulating the incident wavefront, thereby generating these curved beams. We develop a model to analyze and experimentally evaluate the bandwidth limitations imposed by the use of curved beams. We experimentally demonstrate that curved beams suffer fewer power losses compared to steered directional beams and can realize a data-carrying link by curving around an intervening obstacle. These results show that trajectory engineering of wavefronts will be an important tool in future physical layer implementations and open vast new possibilities for wavefront management in Next-Gen wireless communication systems.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.6GWavefront EngineeringMetasurfaceThesis2024-01-24