Terahertz (THz)-band (0.1–10 THz) communication is envisioned as a key technology for the next generation of wireless communications, with the potential to enable Terabit-per-second (Tbps) links. To overcome the high path loss of this band, the use of directional antennas on both transmitter and receiver is necessary even for distances of few meters. This paper presents an Adaptive Directional Antenna Protocol for THz networks (ADAPT), a novel medium access control (MAC) protocol tailored to ultra-high-speed directional networks in a centralized architecture. An access point with a turning antenna divides the space in sectors, and synchronization is achieved with a 3-way receiver-initiated handshake. The protocol implements adaptive sector time and modulation mechanisms. An analytical model to study the stability condition and achievable throughput is presented. The performance of ADAPT is investigated with extensive simulations in ns-3 in terms of throughput and discard rate, using the physical layer defined in IEEE 802.15.3d, the first standard for THz communications. Results show that the proposed solution improves the current protocols and achieves throughput in excess of 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps), while reducing latency and packet discard rate.

太赫兹（THz）频带（0.1–10 THz）通信被视为下一代无线通信的关键技术，具有启用每秒太比特（Tbps）链路的潜力。为了克服该频带的高路径损耗，即使在几米的距离内，也必须在发射器和接收器上都使用定向天线。本文提出了一种用于THz网络的自适应定向天线协议（ADAPT），这是一种适用于集中式体系结构中超高速定向网络的新型媒体访问控制（MAC）协议。带有旋转天线的接入点将空间划分为多个扇区，并通过三向接收器发起的握手来实现同步。该协议实现了自适应扇区时间和调制机制。提出了一种分析模型，用于研究稳定性条件和可达到的吞吐量。ADAPT的性能通过广泛的仿真在以下方面进行了研究ns-3在吞吐量和丢弃率方面使用THz通信的第一个标准IEEE 802.15.3d中定义的物理层。结果表明，所提出的解决方案改进了当前协议，并实现了超过100吉比特/秒（Gbps）的吞吐量，同时减少了延迟和数据包丢弃率。