This work focuses on the analysis and design of large-scale millimeter-wave andterahertz (mmWave/THz) beamforming apertures (e.g., reconfigurable reflective surfaces– RRSs). As such, the small wavelengths and ample bandwidths of these frequencies enable the development of high-spatial-resolution imaging and high-throughput wireless communication systems that leverage electrically large apertures to form high-gain steerable beams. For the rigorous evaluation of these systems’ performance in realistic application scenarios, full-wave simulations are needed to capture all the exhibited electromagnetic phenomena. However, the small wavelengths of mmWave/THz bands lead to enormous meshes in conventional full-wave simulators. Thus, a novel numerical decomposition technique is presented, which decomposes the full-wave models in smaller domains with less meshed elements, enabling their computationally efficient analysis. Thereafter, this method is leveraged to study a novel radar configuration that employs a rotating linear antenna with beam steering capabilities to form 3D images. This imaging process requires fewer elements to carry out high-spatial-resolution imaging compared to traditional 2D phased arrays, constituting a perfect candidate in low-profile, low-cost applications. Afterward, a high-yield nanofabrication technique for mmWave/THz graphene switches is presented. The measured graphene sheet impedances are incorporated into equivalent circuit models of coplanar switches to identify the optimum mmWave/THz switch topology that would enable the development of large-scale RRSs.ii Thereon, the process of integrating the optimized graphene switches into largescale mmWave/THz RRSs is detailed. The resulting RRSs enable dynamic beam steering achieving 4-bits of phase quantization –for the first time in the known literature– eliminating the parasitic lobes and increasing the aperture efficiency. Furthermore, the devised multi-bit configurations use a single switch-per-bit topology retaining low system complexity and RF losses. Finally, single-bit RRSs are modified to offer single-lobe patterns by employing a surface randomization technique. This approach allows for the use of low-complexity single-bit configurations to suppress the undesired quantization lobes without residing to the use of sophisticated multi-bit topologies. The presented concepts pave the road toward the implementation and proliferation of large-scale reconfigurable beamforming apertures that can serve both as mmWave/THz imagers and as relays or base stations in future wireless communication applications.

Survey indicates a rise of 81% in mobile data usage in the year 2013. A fair share of this total data demand can be attributed to video streaming. The encoding structure of videos, introduces nuances that can be utilized to ensure a fair and optimal means of streaming the video data. This dissertation proposes a novel user and packet scheduling algorithm that guarantees a fair allocation of resources. MS-SSIM index

is used to calculate the mean opinion score (DMOS) to evaluate the quality of the received video. Simulations indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing algorithms in the literature.