The Institute of Robust Power Semiconductor Systems at the University of Stuttgart (USTUTT), Germany, has developed a strong R&D focus on Millimeter-Wave and Terahertz Wireless Communication. Its core competences comprise monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) design, the specification-driven design of analog transmit-receive THz frontend architectures, the design and operation of hardware-in-the-loop laboratory-grade as well as network-integrated outdoor THz communication links, and the generation and analysis of multi-Gigabit digitally modulated ultra-wideband communication signals. In 2010 the group initiated and coordinated the MILLILINK project, where for the first time a wireless point-to-point link operating at 240 GHz achieved data rates of 64 Gbit/s over a distance of 850 m and 96 Gbit/s over 40 m. The combination of an electronic receiver with a photonic transmitter achieved a world-first wireless transmission of 100 Gbit/s.
Since then, the USTUTT has been involved in numerous R&D projects targeting THz communication links. In the frame of project TERAPAN, the first electronic steerable phased-array transmit-receive frontend at 300 GHz operating frequency achieved data rates of 64 Gbit/s in an indoor environment. In the ongoing EC-funded project ThoR, USTUTT has developed the concept of a superheterodyne architecture of a 300 GHz transceiver operating on the basis of frequency-division multiplexing for the aggregation of multi-Gigabit sub-channel inline with the recent standard IEEE802.15.3d for THz communication, and demonstrated the real-time, bit-transparent network connectivity of the THz link using aggregated multi-Gigabit Modem channels.