Transmitter Noise Propagation in Millimeter-Wave and Sub-Terahertz: From Limits to Design Guidelines

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how transmitter noise impacts millimeter-wave and sub-THz communication systems, revealing fundamental limits and providing guidelines for system design at various ranges.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic framework to quantify transmitter noise dominance, highlighting the importance of low TX noise figures for short-range systems and considering noise effects for longer links.

Findings

TX noise can reduce SNR by 15-25 dB at short distances.

Propagated TX noise creates fundamental SNR ceilings below 10 cm.

Component noise figures degrade significantly at higher frequencies.

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive link budget analysis for millimeter wave (mm-Wave) and sub-Terahertz (sub-THz) communication systems with primary focus on transmitter (TX) noise propagation, an often overlooked impairment that can dominate in scenarios where path loss is insufficient to suppress TX noise below receiver thermal and atmospheric molecular noise levels. Unlike traditional thermal noise limited analyses, this work demonstrates that TX noise is amplified by component noise figures that degrade significantly with frequency, rising from single digits to more than $15\,\mathrm{dB}$ in the sub-THz range. In the scenarios analyzed, this propagated TX noise reduces the achievable Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) by approximately $15$ to $25\,\mathrm{dB}$ at short distances, creating fundamental SNR ceilings at ranges below about $10\,\mathrm{cm}$. We develop a systematic framework quantifying TX noise dominance conditions as functions of distance, frequency, and component parameters, revealing fundamental performance constraints for short-range next generation wireless systems. Our findings indicate that the TX noise figure should be as low as possible for short-range communication, and both TX noise and atmospheric molecular noise should be considered for medium- and long-range links.