1 Survey on Terahertz Nanocommunication and Networking: A Top-Down Perspective Filip Lemic∗, Sergi Abadaly, Wouter Tavernierz, Pieter Stroobantz, Didier Collez, Eduard Alarcon´ y, Johann Marquez-Barja∗, Jeroen Famaey∗ ∗Internet Technology and Data Science Lab (IDLab), Universiteit Antwerpen - imec, Belgium yNaNoNetworking Center in Catalunya (N3Cat), Universitat Politecnica` de Catalunya, Spain zInternet Technology and Data Science Lab (IDLab), Ghent University - imec, Belgium Email: fi
[email protected] Abstract—Recent developments in nanotechnology herald Communication and coordination among the nanodevices, nanometer-sized devices expected to bring light to a number of as well as between them and the macro-scale world, will groundbreaking applications. Communication with and among be required to achieve the full promise of such applications. nanodevices will be needed for unlocking the full potential of such applications. As the traditional communication approaches Thus, several alternative nanocommunication paradigms have cannot be directly applied in nanocommunication, several alter- emerged in the recent years, the most promising ones being native paradigms have emerged. Among them, electromagnetic electromagnetic, acoustic, mechanical, and molecular commu- nanocommunication in the terahertz (THz) frequency band is nication [2]. particularly promising, mainly due to the breakthrough of novel In molecular nanocommunication, a transmitting device materials such as graphene. For this reason, numerous research efforts are nowadays targeting THz band nanocommunication releases molecules into a propagation medium, with the and consequently nanonetworking. As it is expected that these molecules being used as the information carriers [3]. Acoustic trends will continue in the future, we see it beneficial to nanocommunication utilizes pressure variations in the (fluid summarize the current status in these research domains.