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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-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 languageEnglish
JournalIEEE Communications Letters
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 2025

Keywords

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

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