Intelligent reflecting surface-aided wideband THz communications: modeling and analysis

Dovelos, Konstantinos; Assimonis, Stylianos D.; Ngo, Hien Quoc; Bellalta, Boris; Matthaiou, Michail

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2110.15768

Intelligent reflecting surface-aided wideband THz communications: modeling and analysis

Citation

Dovelos K, Assimonis SD, Ngo HQ, Bellalta B, Matthaiou M. Intelligent reflecting surface-aided wideband THz communications: modeling and analysis. In: 25th International ITG Workshop on Smart Antennas (WSA 2021); 2021 Nov 10-12; French Riviera, France. [Berlin]: VDE Verlag; 2021. [5 p.].

Abstract

In this paper, we study the performance of wideband terahertz (THz) communications assisted by an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS). Specifically, we first introduce a generalized channel model that is suitable for electrically large THz IRSs operating in the near-field. Unlike prior works, our channel model takes into account the spherical wavefront of the emitted electromagnetic waves and the spatial-wideband effect. We next show that conventional frequency-flat beamfocusing significantly reduces the power gain due to beam squint, and hence is highly suboptimal. More importantly, we analytically characterize this reduction when the spacing between adjacent reflecting elements is negligible, i.e., holographic reflecting surfaces. Numerical results corroborate our analysis and provide important insights into the design of future IRS-aided THz systems.

Description

Comunicació presentada a 25th International ITG Workshop on Smart Antennas (WSA 2021), celebrat del 10 al 12 de novembre de 2021 a Costa Blava, França.