Performance Analysis of LOS THz Systems under Misalignment and Deterministic Fading

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the performance of LOS THz communication systems considering propagation loss, molecular absorption, and antenna misalignment, providing analytical SER expressions validated by simulations for various scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces simplified analytical SER formulas for LOS THz systems accounting for misalignment and validates them through extensive Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

SER formulas match simulations for SNR above 35 dB

Model accuracy is within 2 dB at lower SNR levels

Performance degrades with increased distance and misalignment

Abstract

Line-of-sight (LOS) wireless communication at terahertz (THz) frequency bands is envisioned to play a major role in defining next-generation wireless technologies. This work analyzes the performance of a potential LOS THz system experiencing propagation loss and misaligned antenna beams. The THz channel particularities are discussed in terms of deterministic path loss, molecular absorption effect and stochastic fading due to antenna pointing errors. Assuming phase shift keying (PSK) modulation schemes, simplified analytical expressions are approximated for computing symbol error rate (SER) of the proposed THz system. Monte Carlo simulations are applied to verify theoretical model accuracy over various transmission distances and misalignment scenarios. The derived SER formulas match simulation results for Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) above 35 dB at transmission distance up to 100 m and antenna displacement jitter variance of 0.05 $m^2$. In general, the theoretical model mismatch does not exceed 2 dB for lower SNR levels.