Abstract-Experimental Comparison of Terahertz and Infrared Signaling in Laboratory-Controlled Rain

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• Jianjun Ma 
• , Francis Vorrius
• , Lucas Lamb
• , Lothar Moeller
• , John F. Federici

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10762-015-0183-3

In order to analyze the impairments of terahertz (THz) and infrared (IR) links caused by attenuation through rain, THz and IR free-space communication channels at 625 GHz and 1550 nm, respectively, with a maximum data rate of 2.5 Gb/s have been developed in our lab. These two links are spatially superimposed and propagate through the same weather conditions. The performance of both channels is analyzed by measuring the power and bit error rates (BERs) in each link. A weather emulating chamber is designed that can generate controllable rain. Under the same conditions, attenuation by rain exhibits higher but comparable performance degradation in the THz channel. Analysis of power attenuation and BERs performance for both links is presented. Numerical simulations of THz and IR attenuation under different rain conditions are conducted and compared with experimental results.