NirvaWave: An Accurate and Efficient Near Field Wave Propagation Simulator for 6G and Beyond

The extended near-field range in future mm-Wave and sub-THz wireless networks demands a precise and efficient near-field channel simulator for understanding and optimizing wireless communications in this less-explored regime. This paper presents NirvaWave, a novel near-field channel simulator, built on scalar diffraction theory and Fourier principles, that precisely captures the propagation evolution of arbitrary user-defined transmit electromagnetic (EM) signals in complex user-defined wireless mediums. NirvaWave offers an interface for investigating novel near-field wavefronts, e.g., Airy beams, Bessel beams, and the interaction of mmWave and sub-THz signals with obstructions, reflectors, and scatterers. The simulation run-time in NirvaWave is orders of magnitude lower than its EM software counterparts that directly solve the Maxwell equations. Hence, NirvaWave enables a user-friendly interface for large-scale channel simulations required for developing new model-driven and data-driven techniques in next-generation communication systems. We evaluated the performance of NirvaWave through direct comparison with EM simulation software. Finally, we have open-sourced the core code-base of NirvaWave in our GitHub repository.