End-to-End Evaluation of a Virtualized Terminal with Wearable Terahertz Relays for 6G Uplink under Practical Conditions

To address the growing demand for ultra-high-capacity communications, including uplink, in Beyond 5G and 6G systems, a virtualized terminal architecture utilizing terahertz and millimeter-wave relay transmission has been proposed. The system consists of a user equipment (UE) and multiple wearable relay devices (RDs), which function as distributed virtual antennas. This configuration allows the aggregation of transmit power across devices, enabling spatial multiplexing over several hundred meters, even under wideband MIMO conditions. Although previous studies have evaluated key components and interference effects among RDs, most evaluations were limited to physical-layer measurements using measurement instruments in short-range scenarios. In this study, we developed a prototype system that integrates an ultra-wideband baseband unit, terahertz RF front-end, and dual-polarization multi-beam antenna. We conducted comprehensive and practical end-to-end (E2E) evaluations under realistic transmission distances and MIMO configurations. The system achieved up to 38 Gbps physical-layer throughput using 4×4 MIMO over a long-range relay corresponding to approximately 200 m. Furthermore, real-time wireless transmission of uncompressed 4K video, which is a representative application, was successfully demonstrated, achieving stable playback with an actual throughput of 5.6 Gbps. These results confirm the effectiveness of the virtualized terminal as a promising solution for high-capacity uplink in future wireless networks.