Terahertz Channel Measurement and Modeling for Short-Range Indoor Environments

Accurate channel modeling is essential for realizing the potential of terahertz (THz) communications in 6G indoor networks, where existing models struggle with severe frequency selectivity and multipath effects. We propose a physically grounded Rician fading channel model that jointly incorporates deterministic line-of-sight (LOS) and stochastic non-line-of-sight (NLOS) components, enhanced by frequency-dependent attenuation characterized by optimized exponents alpha and beta. Unlike conventional approaches, our model integrates a two-ray reflection framework to capture standing wave phenomena and employs wideband spectral averaging to mitigate frequency selectivity over bandwidths up to 15 GHz. Empirical measurements at a 208 GHz carrier, spanning 0.1-0.9 m, demonstrate that our model achieves root mean square errors (RMSE) as low as 2.54 dB, outperforming free-space path loss (FSPL) by up to 14.2% and reducing RMSE by 73.3% as bandwidth increases. These findings underscore the importance of bandwidth in suppressing oscillatory artifacts and improving modeling accuracy. Our approach provides a robust foundation for THz system design, supporting reliable indoor wireless personal area networks (WPANs), device-to-device (D2D) communications, and precise localization in future 6G applications.