Coverage Analysis of Hybrid RF/THz Networks With Best Relay Selection

Abstract

Utilizing terahertz (THz) transmission to enhance coverage has proven various benefits compared to traditional radio frequency (RF) counterparts. This letter proposes a dual-hop decode-and-forward (DF) routing protocol in a hybrid RF and THz relay network named hybrid relay selection (HRS). The coverage probability of the HRS protocol is derived. The HRS protocol prioritizes THz relays for higher data rates or short source-destination distances; and RF relays for lower data rates or large source-destination distances. The proposed HRS protocol offers nearly the same performance as the optimal selection protocol, which requires complete instantaneous channel state information (CSI) of all the nodes.