TY - JOUR
T1 - Single-versus Multi-Carrier Terahertz-Band Communications: A Comparative Study
AU - Tarboush, Simon
AU - Sarieddeen, Hadi
AU - Alouini, Mohamed-Slim
AU - Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-09-14
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): ORA-CRG2021-4695
Acknowledgements: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. ORA-CRG2021-4695.
PY - 2022/8/25
Y1 - 2022/8/25
N2 - The prospects of utilizing single-carrier (SC) and multi-carrier (MC) waveforms in future terahertz (THz)-band communication systems remain unresolved. On the one hand, the limited multi-path components at high frequencies result in frequency-flat channels that favor low-complexity wideband SC systems. On the other hand, frequency-dependent molecular absorption and transceiver characteristics and the existence of multi-path components in indoor sub-THz systems can still result in frequency-selective channels, favoring off-the-shelf MC schemes such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). Variations of SC/MC designs result in different THz spectrum utilization, but spectral efficiency is not the primary concern with substantial available bandwidths; baseband complexity, power efficiency, and hardware impairment constraints are predominant. This paper presents a comprehensive study of SC/MC waveforms for THz communications, utilizing an accurate wideband THz channel model and highlighting the various performance and complexity trade-offs of the candidate schemes. Simulations demonstrate that discrete-Fourier-transform spread orthogonal time-frequency space (DFT-s-OTFS) achieves a lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) than OFDM and OTFS and enhances immunity to THz impairments and Doppler spreads, but at an increased complexity cost. Moreover, DFT-s-OFDM is a promising candidate that increases robustness to THz impairments and phase noise (PHN) at a low PAPR and overall complexity.
AB - The prospects of utilizing single-carrier (SC) and multi-carrier (MC) waveforms in future terahertz (THz)-band communication systems remain unresolved. On the one hand, the limited multi-path components at high frequencies result in frequency-flat channels that favor low-complexity wideband SC systems. On the other hand, frequency-dependent molecular absorption and transceiver characteristics and the existence of multi-path components in indoor sub-THz systems can still result in frequency-selective channels, favoring off-the-shelf MC schemes such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). Variations of SC/MC designs result in different THz spectrum utilization, but spectral efficiency is not the primary concern with substantial available bandwidths; baseband complexity, power efficiency, and hardware impairment constraints are predominant. This paper presents a comprehensive study of SC/MC waveforms for THz communications, utilizing an accurate wideband THz channel model and highlighting the various performance and complexity trade-offs of the candidate schemes. Simulations demonstrate that discrete-Fourier-transform spread orthogonal time-frequency space (DFT-s-OTFS) achieves a lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) than OFDM and OTFS and enhances immunity to THz impairments and Doppler spreads, but at an increased complexity cost. Moreover, DFT-s-OFDM is a promising candidate that increases robustness to THz impairments and phase noise (PHN) at a low PAPR and overall complexity.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/673828
UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9866847/
U2 - 10.1109/ojcoms.2022.3201038
DO - 10.1109/ojcoms.2022.3201038
M3 - Article
SN - 2644-125X
SP - 1
EP - 1
JO - IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
JF - IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society
ER -