Performance Analysis for MmWave Cell-Free Access Network Based on Terahertz Backhaul

Hongxin Lin; Yuanjian Li; Guanghui Chen; Zening Liu; Yongming Huang

doi:10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555748

Performance Analysis for MmWave Cell-Free Access Network Based on Terahertz Backhaul

Hongxin Lin, Yuanjian Li^*, Guanghui Chen, Zening Liu, Yongming Huang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Communications and Networking

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This letter proposes a downlink cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) network architecture integrating terahertz (THz) backhaul and millimeter wave (mmWave) access, where a source server transmits signals to the central processing unit (CPU) via THz links, then enabling adaptive decode-and-forward transmission to multiple fiber-connected mmWave access points (APs). A novel fluctuating two-ray (FTR) fading model is adopted to characterize mmWave links for accurate performance analysis. Closed-form expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived for maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers, complemented by asymptotic analysis in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Extensive simulations validate the analytical results and demonstrate a critical trade-off: while increasing the number of APs yields marginal outage probability improvement due to THz backhaul limitations, it substantially enhances ergodic capacity through effective spatial multiplexing.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Communications Letters
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555748
Publication status	Published - 28 Mar 2025

Keywords

Terahertz backhaul
millimeter wave cell-free network
fluctuating two-ray fading
adaptive decoding transmission
performance analysis

Access to Document

10.1109/LCOMM.2025.3555748

Cite this

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title = "Performance Analysis for MmWave Cell-Free Access Network Based on Terahertz Backhaul",

abstract = "This letter proposes a downlink cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) network architecture integrating terahertz (THz) backhaul and millimeter wave (mmWave) access, where a source server transmits signals to the central processing unit (CPU) via THz links, then enabling adaptive decode-and-forward transmission to multiple fiber-connected mmWave access points (APs). A novel fluctuating two-ray (FTR) fading model is adopted to characterize mmWave links for accurate performance analysis. Closed-form expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived for maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers, complemented by asymptotic analysis in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Extensive simulations validate the analytical results and demonstrate a critical trade-off: while increasing the number of APs yields marginal outage probability improvement due to THz backhaul limitations, it substantially enhances ergodic capacity through effective spatial multiplexing.",

keywords = "Terahertz backhaul, millimeter wave cell-free network, fluctuating two-ray fading, adaptive decoding transmission, performance analysis",

author = "Hongxin Lin and Yuanjian Li and Guanghui Chen and Zening Liu and Yongming Huang",

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language = "English",

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T1 - Performance Analysis for MmWave Cell-Free Access Network Based on Terahertz Backhaul

AU - Lin, Hongxin

AU - Li, Yuanjian

AU - Chen, Guanghui

AU - Liu, Zening

AU - Huang, Yongming

PY - 2025/3/28

Y1 - 2025/3/28

N2 - This letter proposes a downlink cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) network architecture integrating terahertz (THz) backhaul and millimeter wave (mmWave) access, where a source server transmits signals to the central processing unit (CPU) via THz links, then enabling adaptive decode-and-forward transmission to multiple fiber-connected mmWave access points (APs). A novel fluctuating two-ray (FTR) fading model is adopted to characterize mmWave links for accurate performance analysis. Closed-form expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived for maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers, complemented by asymptotic analysis in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Extensive simulations validate the analytical results and demonstrate a critical trade-off: while increasing the number of APs yields marginal outage probability improvement due to THz backhaul limitations, it substantially enhances ergodic capacity through effective spatial multiplexing.

AB - This letter proposes a downlink cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) network architecture integrating terahertz (THz) backhaul and millimeter wave (mmWave) access, where a source server transmits signals to the central processing unit (CPU) via THz links, then enabling adaptive decode-and-forward transmission to multiple fiber-connected mmWave access points (APs). A novel fluctuating two-ray (FTR) fading model is adopted to characterize mmWave links for accurate performance analysis. Closed-form expressions for outage probability and ergodic capacity are derived for maximum ratio combining (MRC) receivers, complemented by asymptotic analysis in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Extensive simulations validate the analytical results and demonstrate a critical trade-off: while increasing the number of APs yields marginal outage probability improvement due to THz backhaul limitations, it substantially enhances ergodic capacity through effective spatial multiplexing.

KW - Terahertz backhaul

KW - millimeter wave cell-free network

KW - fluctuating two-ray fading

KW - adaptive decoding transmission

KW - performance analysis

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