Link Budget Analysis for Massive-Antenna-Array-Enabled Terahertz Satellite Communications

Broadband satellite communications can enable a plethora of applications in customer services, global nomadic coverage and disaster prediction and recovery. Terahertz (THz) band is envisioned as a key satellite communication technology due to its very broad bandwidth, astrophysical observation advantages and device maturing in recent years. In this paper, a massive-antenna-array-enabled THz satellite communication system is proposed to be established in Tanggula, Tibet, where the average altitude is 5.068 km and the mean-clear-sky precipitable water vapor (PWV) is as low as 1.31 mm. In particular, a link budget analysis (LBA) framework is developed for THz space communications, considering unique THz channel properties and massive antenna array techniques. Moreover, practical siting conditions are taken into account, including the altitude, PWV, THz spectral windows, rain and cloud factors. On the basis of the developed link budget model, the massive antenna array model, and the practical parameters in Tanggula, the performances of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and capacity are evaluated. The results illustrate that 1Tbit/s is attainable in the 0.275—0.37 THz spectral window in Tanggula, by using an antenna array of the size 64.