Experimental Evaluation of Joint Clock Recovery and Equalization for Sub-Terahertz Links

This paper proposes and experimentally evaluates a joint clock recovery (CR) and equalization architecture tailored for high-speed sub-terahertz (sub-THz) wireless communication links. Specifically, a Baud-spaced digital receiver architecture is investigated that combines a constant modulus algorithm (CMA) equalizer with a blind timing error detector (TED), enabling robust symbol timing synchronization without decision-directed (DD) feedback or pilot symbols. The proposed TED leverages the CMA filter coefficients to estimate timing errors, which are then used to drive a Farrow interpolator operating at twice the symbol rate. The system is validated experimentally using a 140~GHz wireless testbed with 16-QAM modulation over a 10~GHz bandwidth. Results show that the proposed TED schemes outperform conventional blind TEDs, such as Gardner and blind implementations of Mueller \& M\"uller, in terms of bit error rate (BER), error vector magnitude (EVM), and intersymbol interference (ISI) suppression. These capabilities are especially relevant to next-generation spaceborne communication systems, where wideband sub-THz links are expected to play a key role in enabling ultra-high-data-rate inter-satellite and deep-space communications under challenging synchronization constraints.

Impact of the Antenna on the Sub-Terahertz Indoor Channel Characteristics: An Experimental Approach

Terahertz-band (100 GHz-10 THz) communication is a promising radio technology envisioned to enable ultra-high data rate, reliable and low-latency wireless connectivity in next-generation wireless systems. However, the low transmission power of THz transmitters, the need for high gain directional antennas, and the complex interaction of THz radiation with common objects along the propagation path make crucial the understanding of the THz channel. In this paper, we conduct an extensive channel measurement campaign in an indoor setting (i.e., a conference room) through a channel sounder with 0.1 ns time resolution and 20 GHz bandwidth at 140 GHz. Particularly, the impact of different antenna directivities (and, thus, beam widths) on the channel characteristics is extensively studied. The experimentally obtained dataset is processed to develop the path loss model and, subsequently, derive key channel metrics such as the path loss exponent, delay spread, and K-factor. The results highlight the multi-faceted impact of the antenna gain on the channel and, by extension, the wireless system and, thus, show that an antenna-agnostic channel model cannot capture the propagation characteristics of the THz channel.