J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

DOI 10.1007/s10762-014-0140-6

64 Gbit/s Transmission over 850 m Fixed Wireless Link

at 240 GHz Carrier Frequency

Ingmar Kallfass & Florian Boes & Tobias Messinger &

Jochen Antes & Anns Inam & Ulrich Lewark &
Axel Tessmann & Ralf Henneberger

Received: 28 June 2014 / Accepted: 23 December 2014 /

Published online: 16 January 2015
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Abstract A directive fixed wireless link operating at a center frequency of 240 GHz achieves a
data rate of 64 Gbit/s over a transmission distance of 850 m using QPSK and 8PSK modulation, in
a single-channel approach without the use of spatial diversity concepts. The analog transmit and
receive frontend consists of active monolithic integrated circuits including broadband RF ampli-
fication and quadrature subharmonic mixer channels. The analog frontend is addressed by 64
GSa/s ADC and DAC boards, which are amenable to real-time data transmission. A link budget
calculation allows for the estimation of the performance under adverse weather conditions.

Keywords Terahertz communication . Broadband fixed wireless link . 240 GHz . Monolithic
millimeter-wave integrated circuits . MMIC

1 Introduction

The cutoff frequencies of modern high-speed transistor technologies allow for the implemen-
tation of analog frontends based on millimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuits (MMIC) at

I. Kallfass (*) : F. Boes : T. Messinger : J. Antes

Institute of Robust Power Semiconductor Systems, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: ingmar.kallfass@ilh.uni-stuttgart.de

A. Inam
Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe GmbH, SL6 4FJ Maidenhead, United Kingdom

U. Lewark
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
e-mail: ulrich.lewark@kit.edu

A. Tessmann
Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Solid State Physics, Freiburg, Germany
e-mail: axel.tessmann@iaf.fraunhofer.de

R. Henneberger
Radiometer Physics, Meckenheim, Germany
e-mail: henneberger@radiometer-physics.de
222 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

operating frequencies in the entire millimeter-wave frequency range up to 300 GHz and
beyond. Here, the motivation is to exploit the high absolute bandwidths for high resolution
sensing and high data rate communication systems. Contrarily to alternative photonic and
passive electronic technologies operating in this frequency range, transistor-based frontends
are amenable to the monolithic integration of frequency-converting and amplifying stages,
allowing for a reduction of size and form factors, in addition to being easy to deploy, robust
and economically viable both on niche and mass-market scales.
Prospective applications of multi Gigabit wireless communication are manifold, ranging
from ultra-short range intra-machine and board-to-board communication, via medium-range
indoor scenarios of wireless local and personal area networks, to long-range directional links in
the high throughput backbones of modern mobile communication networks. While short range
applications will most probably be addressed by Silicon-based analog frontends, the high
performance requirements in terms of receiver sensitivity, transmit power and bandwidth of
high range communication above approximately 100 GHz, a frequency range often referred to
as “Terahertz” communication, today mandate the use of compound semiconductors, namely
Indium-Phosphide (InP) based transistor technology.
In this paper, we present a MMIC-based technology platform dedicated to high range
communication at a center frequency of 240 GHz, where the atmosphere at sea-level
presents a very broad transmission window without molecule resonances (Fig. 1). Accord-
ing to ITU models [1, 2], the atmospheric absorption at 240 GHz varies from only a few dB/
km under clear sky conditions to more than 10 dB/km under adverse weather conditions of
fog and rain, limiting but not prohibiting communication links with high availability. Using
a metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (mHEMT) and its associated MMIC
process [3], we implemented broadband receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) MMICs operating
at a center frequency of 240 GHz. The GaAs-based field-effect transistors with a gate length
of 35 nm achieve cutoff frequencies of 515 GHz fT and approximately 1000 GHz fmax, and
hence are perfectly suited for the realization of active integrated circuits for operating
frequencies in the entire millimeter-wave range. Through the combination with high gain
parabolic antennas a long-range demonstrator is formed. The demonstrated data rate of 64
Gbit/s over a distance of 850 m is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the highest
combination of data rate and distance to date. The single-input single-output (SISO)
transmission does not use any spatial or polarization diversity concept, which could increase
the data rate even further.

2 240 GHz Transmit and Receive Analog Frontend

In our transmit and receive analog frontend, dedicated to the up- and down-conversion of
broadband communication signals, we integrate three-stage RF amplifiers with subharmonic
quadrature mixer stages. The stand-alone mixer achieves a conversion loss of 25 dB at
240 GHz when driven with 6 dBm of (subharmonic) LO power. Using a 120 GHz Wilkinson
power divider in the LO and a 240 GHz Lange-type 90° coupler in the RF path, two mixer
cores are combined to form an IQ mixer with in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) channels. Being
bi-directional, the resistive mixer can be used both as down- and upconverter. Thus, the Rx and
Tx MMICs use identical IQ mixer stages. In the Rx, a three-stage RF amplifier is used as low-
noise amplifier (LNA), while it is simply mirrored to operate as RF post-amplifier in the Tx.
Clearly, with the RF amplifier being optimized for broadband small-signal gain and low noise
figure [4], this limits the output power and achievable linearity of the Tx. After split-block
waveguide packaging, which is described in more detail in [5], the Rx and Tx MMICs become
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 223

1000

attenuation (dB/km)
100 H2O H2 O
O2 O2

10

1 43.4% RH
heavy rain
1 bar, 20°C heavy fog
0.1
0 100 200 300 400 500
frequency (GHz)

Fig. 1 Atmospheric transmission in the millimeter-wave frequency range according to ITU models for clear sky,
fog and rain conditions

available as modules with WR-3 RF ports, WR-10 ports for the subharmonic LO, and
broadband V-connectors at the quadrature IF ports (see Fig. 2).

2.1 Transmitter

The transmit module is characterized by a total power measurement using a calorimetric power
meter in H-band. Thus, the measured power contains the spectral components from both RF
sidebands as well as potential LO-to-RF leakage. The LO is applied at 120 GHz with 7 dBm
power, obtained from a 20 GHz frequency synthesizer and multiplier-by-six module. A singe-
tone IF signal with a power of 0 dBm is applied to either the I- or the Q-channel, with the other
port terminated into 50 Ω. A maximum output power of -3.6 dBm per IF channel is obtained,
within a 3-dB bandwidth of 0 to 35 GHz. The IQ imbalance is less than 0.3 dB. In a spectrally
resolved measurement using a spectrum analyzer with external H-band mixer the suppression
of the second LO harmonic entering the RF range at 240 GHz with respect to the up-converted
RF power in both sidebands is found to be better than 12 dBc.

2.2 Receiver

The measurement of the receive module shows a maximum conversion gain of 3 dB and a 3-
dB frequency range from 228 to 252 GHz when driven with 7 dBm LO power at 120 GHz.

Fig. 2 Waveguide module of the 240 GHz subharmonic IQ up- and down-converter
224 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

The RF signal obtained from a carefully characterized WR-3 source module is attenuated to a
power level low enough for linear operation of the Rx. The IQ imbalance is better than 2 dB.
The noise figure of the Rx module is measured in two setups: using a noise figure analyzer
(NFA) in conjunction with a noise diode shows a double sideband (DSB) noise figure of
approximately 10-11 dB in the IF frequency range from 0-2 GHz. A hot-cold noise measure-
ment using cooled absorbers results in a DSB noise figure of approximately 10-12 dB in an IF
frequency range from 1-24 GHz. The noise figure is measured at the I-port of the Rx, with the
Q-port terminated into 50 Ω.

2.3 LO Generation

The analog transmit and receive frontend is completed by the LO generation, consisting of
commercial 20 GHz signal sources and frequency-multipliers-by-six. The output power after
frequency multiplier at 120 GHz is 6 dBm. Where required, the power level at 120 GHz can be
increased by a power amplifier module and adjusted by a controllable waveguide attenuator.
We employ a Wiltron 68087B synthesizer with a specified phase noise of -100 dBc/Hz at
100 kHz offset and an Agilent E257D synthesizer with measured -110 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz
offset to generate the 20 GHz signal at the Tx and Rx, respectively. The frequency multipli-
cation by six inherently adds a factor of 20 log6 = 15.6 dB to the 120 GHz LO input, while the
relevant phase noise at 240 GHz is increased by another 6 dB through the subharmonic mixer.

3 Fixed Wireless Link Setup

3.1 Air Interface and Antennas

3.1.1 Short-range link

For short-range experiments of up to 40 m, we employ WR-3 horn antennas at the Tx and Rx,
each with a gain of approximately 15 dBi, in conjunction with beam-collimating lenses made
of high density polyethylene (HDPE). For ease of beam alignment, the entire Rx and Tx
frontends are mounted on tripods (Fig. 3).

3.1.2 Long-range link

The long range link setup replaces the lenses by parabolic antennas with a diameter of
approximately 25 cm. At 240 GHz, these Cassegrain reflectors fed by a corrugated conical
horn antenna provide a simulated gain of 55.1 dBi each. The frontends are mounted into a
water-proof housing with active temperature regulation. The antennas are protected by water-
repellant covers (Fig. 4).

3.2 Data Source and Sink

In order to fully exploit the available IF bandwidth of up to 20 GHz, we need to use extremely
broadband digital-to-analog converters (DAC) to provide a modulated analog input to the Tx
module, and a fast analog-to-digital converter (ADC) at the receiver to digitize the received
data for synchronization and analyze in digital offline processing. In this work, we employ
DAC and ADC boards provided by Fujitsu, both with a sampling rate of 64 GSa/s, a nominal
resolution of 8 bits, and an analog bandwidth of >13 GHz and 20 GHz for the DAC and ADC,
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 225

Fig. 3 Short-range demonstrator.

respectively. With an oversampling rate of 2 and 3, the DAC generates signals with 32 GSa/s
and 21.3 GSa/s, respectively. The DAC generates a continuous output signal without inter-
ruptions by emitting the complex baseband signal stored in the 256 kSa on-board memory of
the DAC evaluation board in a loop. At the receiver, the 16 kB on-board memory of the ADC
board allows us to store and analyze 16 kSa per readout cycle. At full sampling speed this
corresponds to a time snapshot of 0.25 μs. Offline digital signal processing is performed using
Agilent’s vector signal analyzer (VSA) software. The digitized raw measurement data is thus

Fig. 4 Long-range fixed wireless link demonstrator with 64 Gsa/s DAC board
226 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

synchronized, equalized and de-modulated. The feed-forward equalization is able to correct at

least partly for the frequency response of the Tx output power, atmospheric attenuation and
receiver gain. We quantify and evaluate the receive signal quality via the error vector
magnitude (EVM), which is a measure for the deviation of the received symbol from its
nominal value in terms of phase and magnitude:
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
u 1 X N  2
u S −S i;r 
u r¼1  m;r
uN
EVM ¼ u  ð1Þ
t 1 X N  2
S i;r 
N r¼1 

Mathematically, the EVM is defined as the ratio of the root mean square (RMS) deviation
of a collection of N measured symbols to the corresponding ideal symbols. In this definition,
Sm,r is the rth measured symbol vector and Si,r the associated ideal symbol in a total number of
N analyzed symbols. Due to the RMS of ideal symbols in the denominator, the EVM is
normalized to the average symbol power. The EVM can be indicated in units of % or dB using
the relation
 
EVM%
EVMdB ¼ 20log ð2Þ
100
In combination with digital signal processing and conditioning via field-programmable gate
arrays (FPGA) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), the core building blocks of
the employed ADC and DAC boards are ultimately amenable to the real-time transmission of
multi Gigabit data streams in future development stages.

3.3 IF interface

At the transmitter, the power level between the DAC output and the analog frontend IF input is
adjusted by 10 dB attenuators to ensure an optimum input power of -8 dBm. At this power
level, the transmit module operates in weak RF compression, limiting the applicable digital
modulation formats the phase-shift keying (PSK). Also, the output power doesn’t change
significantly from the single-channel, single-tone test when applying a signal to, both, the I and
Q channels.
At the receiver, two phase-matched broadband 20 dB amplifiers improve the adjustment of
the IF output power to the input range of the ADC. All IF connections use phase-matched
cables to maintain the quadrature phase relation between the IQ ports.

4 Experimental Results

4.1 Receiver Sensitivity

As shown in [5] and depicted in Fig. 5 a coherent back-to-back setup was built to
characterize the receiver sensitivity. For this experiment the transmitter and receiver modules
are connected via an adjustable WR-3 waveguide attenuator. To provide a coherent LO, a
single source was used for both modules, with a phase-shifter in front of the receiver’s
frequency multiplier by six. As signal source a pulse pattern generator (PPG) with a multi-
plexer (MUX) was used. The four data output ports of the PPG are connected to the 4:1 MUX,
multiplexing the four parallel 10 Gbit/s signals to one serial 40 Gbit/s BPSK data stream. This
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 227

Fig. 5 Coherent setup to determine the receiver sensitivity. PPG and 4:1 Mux are used as an up to 40 Gbit/s
BPSK signal source connected to the transmitter and the corresponding 1:4 Demux with BERT and DCA are
used to analyze the signals at the receiver output

signal was fed into the I- channel of the transmitter module. At the receiver two IF amplifiers in
series (SHF 804TL) were used to boost the weak signal to an appropriate power level for the
analyzer tools. After the amplifiers the received signal is split. One arm is used to display the
eye diagram at a digital communication analyzer (DCA). The other arm is connected to a 1:4
de-multiplexer (DeMUX) which converts the serial data back to four parallel data streams.
These four parallel data streams are connected to a bit error ratio tester (BERT). Comparing the
received data with the given pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS), the BERT can count the
errors that appeared in the back-to-back transmission.
Varying the attenuation in between the Tx and Rx, the BER was measured for different data rates
as a function of the receiver input power, as shown in Fig. 6. From the results of this measurement
the receiver sensitivity and the optimum receiver input power can be determined. For an input power
PRx > -32 dBm the BER reaches an error floor, for higher receiver input power the performance does
not increase further. Since BPSK is a one level signal and thus robust to nonlinear compression at the
receiver’s LNA, the BER does not increase for too high receiver input powers.
The data rate is limited due to the bandwidth of the overall link, hence the quality decreases
with increasing data rate. However, for the optimum receiver input power PRx > -32 dBm, the
25 Gbit/s measurement is error free (BER < 1×10-9), 30 and 35 Gbit/s show good values of
4×10-9 and 6×10-8 respectively. Even 40 Gbit/s has an acceptable BER of 1.7×10-4 to reach an
error free transmission by applying forward error correction.

Fig. 6 Bit error ratio (BER) as a function of the receiver input power PRx
228 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

4.2 Short-Range Transmission

Using the short-range link demonstrator, an outdoor setup over 40 m distance was
investigated. Details of these experiments are reported in [6]. The setup requires an
additional RF attenuator at the receiver between the antenna and the Rx module in order
to adjust the input power to the optimum value of approximately -35 dBm. At the Tx, the
Fujitsu DAC board is employed, while at the Rx the signal is captured by a 33 GHz
Agilent DSA-X 93204A real time oscilloscope, with a sampling rate of 80 GS/s for
carrier recovery and demodulation. Figure 7 shows the constellation diagrams of the
transmission of 32 GBd signals in QPSK and 8PSK modulation, corresponding to data
rates of 64 Gbit/s and 96 Gbit/s, respectively. The 40 m wireless link consisting of the
Tx/Rx analog frontend, air interface and channel degrades the EVM of the DAC output
from 5.5% to 23.7% for the QPSK signal, and from 6.0% to 21.6% for the 8PSK signal.
According to [7], for an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, these EVM
values translate into an uncorrected bit error rate (BER) of 1∙10−5 for QPSK and 7.5∙10−3
for 8PSK. In [8], a BER threshold of 4.5∙10−3 is postulated for applying third-order
forward error correction (FER) with 7% overhead to achieve a corrected BER of
<1 10−15

Fig. 7 Constellation diagrams for 32 GBd QPSK and 8PSK signals of the DAC output (left) and after the 40 m
wireless transmission (right)
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 229

4.3 Long-Range Outdoor Transmission

The 850 m line-of-sight, point-to-point link is set up with the long-range demonstrator between
two rooftops of buildings on the campus of the University of Stuttgart. Here, we use the Fujitsu
64 GSa/s ADC board at the receiver, thus realizing a wireless link, which is amenable to the
real-time data transmission in a converged optical-wireless communication network. Figure 8
shows a simplified block diagram of the measurement setup with the afore-mentioned
elements of the analog frontend. First, we transmit 32 GBd signals in QPSK modulation,
i.e. at a bit rate of 64 Gbit/s, using 2-times oversampling in the 64 GSa/s Fujitsu DAC. After
digitization, synchronization and equalization, the received signal shows an EVM of 26.3%,
corresponding to an uncorrected BER of 7.9 10−5, which is sufficiently low for FEC. In these
extrapolations it should be noted, that our link will not only be affected by AWGN noise, but
also by IQ-imbalance of the analog frontend. As shown in [9], a QPSK-modulated signal
distorted by frontend imperfections introduces a C/N penalty of only 1 dB compared to a
purely AWGN distorted transmission. Reducing the symbol rate to 21.33 GBd and using 3-
times over-sampling, the transmission of a QPSK (42.67 Gbit/s) and 8PSK (64 Gbit/s) signal
yields an EVM of 18.7% (BER 3.2∙10−8) and 20.4% (BER 5:2∙103 ), respectively. The
corresponding constellation diagrams with recordings of 4096 symbols are shown in Fig. 9.

5 Discussion

5.1 Link Budget

Table 1 presents the theoretical link budget for the 850 m transmission case. Derived from the
measured analog frontend performance, we use an average Tx output power of -4.5 dBm, and
an Rx noise figure of 11.0 dB. Under clear sky conditions, according to the ITU models,
atmospheric gases at sea level and a relative humidity of 43% at 12°C, the temperature during
the measurement, result in an attenuation of Aatmos: ¼ 1:8 dB=km∙0:85 km ¼ 1:5 dB. Further-
more, we consider the transmission of a 32 GBd signal within a signal bandwidth of 32 GHz.
The power at the receiver Prx , in dBm, is obtained from (3)
Prx ¼ Ptx þ Gtx þ FSPL−Aatmos: þ Grx ð3Þ
where Ptx is the transmit power in dBm, Gtx and Grx are antenna gains in dBi at the Tx and Rx,
respectively, and FSPL is the free-space path loss, calculated according to (4)

Fujitsu DAC Fujitsu ADC

64 GS/s 64 GS/s
850 m

I Q I Q
Tx RF out
Rx
RF in
LO LO
x6 x6
20 GHz 20 GHz

Fig. 8 Measurement setup of the high range transmission experiment. The quadrature channels of the 240 GHz
analog frontend are addressed by 64 GSa/s DAC and ADCs
230 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

Fig. 9 Measured constellation diagrams with corresponding EVM after air transmission over 850m distance.
21.33 GBd 8PSK and QPSK, 32 GBd QPSK

 
c
FSPL ¼ 20log ð4Þ
4πr f
where c is the speed of light, r is frequency and r stands for range. At the center frequency of
240 GHz and 850 m transmission distance, the FSPL amounts to 138.6 dB. With the parabolic
antennas at the Rx and Tx providing a gain of 55.1 dBi each, the receiver sees an input power
of -34.5 dBm.
Finally, the energy-per-symbol-to-noise-density (ES/N0) ratio in our 850 m transmission of
a 32 GBd signal is calculated to 23.5 dB using the relations given in [10]:
ES
¼ Prx −10logðk B Þ−10logðT S Þ−10logðRS Þ ð5Þ
N0
where kB is the Boltzmann constant in mJ/K, TS is the receiver noise temperature in K and RS

Table 1 Link Budget for the 850

m transmission under clear sky Input Parameters
conditions. Center frequency 240 GHz
Distance 850 m
Tx/Rx antenna diameter 25 cm
Tx/Rx antenna gain 55.1 dBi
Tx power -4.5 dBm
Signal bandwidth 32 GHz
RF bandwidth 64 GHz
Ambient temperature 285 K
Rx antenna temperature 285 K
Rx noise figure 11.0 dB
Atmospheric loss (clear sky) 1.53 dB
Output parameters
EIRP 50.6 dBm
Free-space path loss 138.6 dB
Signal power at Rx -34.5 dBm
C/N in front of Rx 31.5 dB
C/N after Rx 20.5 dB
ES/N0 23.5 dB
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 231

the symbol rate in Hz. The receiver’s noise temperature is given by the sum of the antenna
temperature TA in K and the noise figure NFrx of the receiver in dB:
 N F rx 
T S ¼ T A þ 290 K 10ð 10 Þ −1 ð6Þ

Note that we are assuming a conservative antenna temperature of 285 K, equal to the
ambient temperature. This allows neglecting the antenna efficiency in the calculation. With
signals applied, both, to the I and Q channel, the double sideband transmission uses an RF
bandwidth of 64 GHz, resulting in a carrier-to-noise ratio (C/N) of 31.5 dB in front of and 20.5
dB after the Rx.

5.2 Opening Angle and Spot Size

The parabolic antennas have a simulated half power beamwidth (HPBW) of 0.325°. At
850 m distance, this corresponds to an illumination footprint radius of 2.8 m. In our
experiment, this spot size proved enough for convenient, rapid and stable antenna
alignment. First by coarse alignment using the integrated ocular, then by fine adjustment
using an IF power meter at the receiver. The link was set up and operated over a duration
of two days, under partially windy conditions. No realignment of the link was required
over this period.

5.3 Atmospheric Attenuation

The presented long-range transmission experiment was carried out under clear-sky conditions.
To counteract the increased attenuation of fog and rain, it is possible to reduce the bandwidth
of the system, and hence the noise floor of the receiver. Figure 10 shows the calculated
allowable atmospheric loss as a function of bandwidth, if the constant C/N of 20.5 dB from the
clear-sky transmission is to be maintained. According to the ITU [2], heavy fog of 0:5 g=cm3
water content (approximately 50 m visibility) will add 5:3 dB of attenuation, while moderate
fog of 0:05 g=cm3 (approximately 300 m visibility) attenuates the signal by additional 0:5 dB
for our 850 m link. Tokay and Short in [11] classify rain rates of 15 mm=h as very heavy and

Fig. 10 Required bandwidth reduction for increased atmospheric loss for a C/N of 20.5 dB and a transmission
distance of 850 m
232 J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233

30 mm=h as extreme. According to the ITU model for rain attenuation [12], these rates result in
an additional attenuation of 7:8 dB and 12:0 dB, respectively. It should be noted, however, that
rain attenuation is affected by many factors, namely the rain drop size, and can increase
significantly beyond these values, as we have shown in a measurement campaign in a climatic
wind channel [13].
For the above examples of adverse weather conditions, we indicate the required reduction
of bandwidth in Fig. 10. Under heavy fog, it would still be possible to transmit with a
bandwidth of 9.4 GHz, while very heavy and extreme rain would require the reduction of
the bandwidth to 5.3 GHz and 2.0 GHz, resulting in data rates of 10.6 Gbit/s and 4.0 Gbit/s,
respectively, for a QPSK signal.

5.4 Future Developments

Being based on a first generation of the analog transmit and receive frontend, both on the
circuit and on the antenna level, the reported transmission rates and distances bear great
potential for performance enhancements. Improvements are envisaged on several levels: on
the circuit level, the linearity and output power of the transmitter can be improved by the
inclusion of power amplifier stages. Both, in the receiver and in the transmitter MMIC, the
reduction of the IQ imbalance in both phase and magnitude is another strong design goal to
enhance the capability of transmitting complex modulated signals with high spectral efficiency.
On the antenna level, on-wafer antennas replacing the technologically challenging RF transi-
tion from the MMIC to the waveguide module become reasonable due to their small
dimensions. Additional LO multiplication stages may be integrated to further increase the
level of functional integration and compactness, but, most importantly, eliminating all chip
transitions at high millimeter-wave frequencies and thus reducing the effort for packaging and
integration. At the forefront of future developments, however, the authors are convinced, lies
the merger of power-efficient and high speed digital signal processing with the high available
bandwidth of the analog transmit and receive frontends in order to enable real-time, multi-
Gigabit transmission and include Terahertz links into communication networks with payload
data. In view of this goal, the approach and results presented in this paper are a crucial and
encouraging step.

6 Conclusion

With the successful realization of a 850 m wireless link operating at a carrier frequency of
240 GHz and achieving a data rate of 64 Gbit/s, we demonstrate the potential of Terahertz
communication for point-to-point application scenarios with extremely high data rate require-
ments, such as front- and backhaul in mobile communication, last-mile access and ad-hoc
networks. Future work will concentrate on availability studies and link inclusion into con-
verged optical-wireless networks, both profiting from the exploitation of the potential of
further improvements in the analog frontend performance.

Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Fujitsu, in particular Mr. Mettendorff,
for access to the ADC and DAC demo boards. Agilent, in particular Mr. Kohler, for access to measurement
equipment. The Institut für Mikroelektronik and the biology department of University of Stuttgart for access to
their rooftops and support. We are indebted to Sandrine Wagner and Hermann Massler, Fraunhofer
IAF, for support and characterization of the Rx/Tx components. This work was partly funded by the
German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) in the frame of the MILLILINK project
under Grant 01BP1023.
J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves (2015) 36:221–233 233

References

1. I.T.U. Recommendation, “Attenuation by atmospheric gases,” ITU-R P.676-8, 2009.

2. I.T.U. Recommendation, “Attenuation due to clouds and fog,” ITU-R P.840-4, 2009.
3. A. Leuther, A. Tessmann, H. Massler, R. Loesch, M. Schlechtweg, M. Mikulla, O. Ambacher, “35 nm
metamorphic HEMT MMIC technology,” 20th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related
Materials, May 2008.
4. R. Weber, V. Hurm, H. Massler, E. Weissbrodt, A. Tessmann, A. Leuther, T. Naerhi, I. Kallfass, “An H-Band
Low-Noise Amplifier MMIC in 35 nm Metamorphic HEMT Technology,” in Proc. European Microwave
Conf. (EuMC), Amsterdam , pp. 1-4, 2012
5. D. Lopez-Diaz, A. Tessmann, S. Wagner, M. Schlechtweg, O. Ambacher, F. Kurz, S. Koenig, J. Antes, F.
Boes, R. Henneberger, I. Kallfass, “A 240 GHz Quadrature Receiver and Transmitter for Data Transmission
up to 40 Gbit/s,” in Proc. European Microwave Week, Nuremberg , pp. 1-4, 2013
6. F. Boes, T. Messinger, J. Antes, D. Meier, A. Tessmann, A. Inam, I. Kallfass, “Ultra-Broadband MMIC-
Based Wireless Link at 240 GHz Enabled by 64 GS/s DAC,” in Proc. 39th Int. Conf. on Infrared, Millimeter,
and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW), Tuscon AZ , pp. 1-4, Sep. 2014
7. R. Shafik, S. Rahman, and R. Islam, “On the extended relationships among evm, ber and snr as performance
metrics,” in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2006. ICECE ’06. International Conference on, Dec 2006,
pp. 408–411.
8. F. Chang, K. Onohara, and T. Mizuochi, “Forward error correction for 100 g transport networks,”
Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. S48–S55, March 2010
9. A. Moscoso-Martir, I. Molina-Fernandez, A. Ortega-Monux, “Signal constellation distortion and ber degra-
dation due to hardware impairments in six-port receivers with analog i/q generation”, in Proc. Progress In
Electromagnetics Research, pp. 225-247, 2011
10. Ippolito, L. J., Satellite communications systems engineering : atmospheric effects, satellite link design and
system performance, Wiley, 2008
11. A. Tokay, D.A. Short, “Evidence from Tropical Raindrop Spectra of the Origin of Rain from Stratiform
versus Convective Clouds”, J. Appl. Meteor., Journal of Applied Meteorology, American Meteorological
Society, 1996, 35, 355-371
12. Recommendation ITU-R P.838-3 (2005), Specific attenuation model for rain for use in prediction methods
13. F. Boes, J. Antes, U. Lewark, I. Kallfass, \Experimental validation of adverse weather e_ects on a 240 ghz
multi-gigabit wireless communication link,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Microwave Symposium, Tampa , pp. 1-3,
Jun. 2014