Feasibility Study of a Nano-Communications Link Using Carbon Nanotube Antennas.

摘要

This report details a feasibility study investigating the performance of a nano-communication system. The study is based on analyzing the suitability of carbon nanotube-based antennas to establish an effective communication link. A simulation has been developed that estimates the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between a carbon nanotube transmitter and its receiver separated across a free-space channel. The carbon nanotube antennas are modeled using a thin-wire approximation to the electric field integral equation and solved using the Method of Moments. In addition, the surface impedance on each wire is derived from a pi-spatial tight binding model, which approximates the quantum conductive behavior of the carbon nanotube. To estimate the total channel loss, the Linville method is used to determine the power delivered from the transmit antenna to the receiver. This simulation methodology is used to perform SNR calculations for a vertical carbon nanotube dipole system in two different frequency bands (i.e., high GHz, optical). The performance of this nano-communication system is analyzed by conducting a trade-off study to determine the required input power necessary to establish an effective SNR.