Proceedings of International Conference on

Technology and Social Science 2021 (ICTSS 2021)

Terahertz Radio in System Level Simulation

Tatsuo Hagino1, a, Shinsuke Hara1, b, Ruibing Dong1, c, Satoru Tanoi1, d,
Mohamed H. Mubarak1, e, Issei Watanabe1, f and Akifumi Kasamatsu1, g
1
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 4-2-1, Nukui-Kitamachi,
Koganei, Tokyo 184-8795, Japan
a
hagino@nict.go.jp, bs-hara@nict.go.jp, cdong@nict.go.jp, ds.tanoi@nict.go.jp,
e
moh.mubarak@nict.go.jp, fissei@nict.go.jp, gkasa@nict.go.jp

Keywords: electronic system level, electronic design automation, terahertz, sixth generation,
systemvue

Abstract. The significance of using system simulation to design sixth generation (6G) communication
systems is highlighted through this work. Various kind of simulators are currently indispensably
utilized in designing such systems, either on device, circuit, or system level approach. The necessity
and effectiveness of system simulation to enable deep insight into system performance as well as the
proposed optimization techniques are described here. A design case study of wireless communication
system over 300 GHz band is presented for this purpose. Through the presented study, the effect of the
phase noise in the LO has been investigated. The system simulation results show an EVM level of
16.127% rms at a carrier frequency of 275 GHz and data rate of 1Gbps using quadrature phase shift
keying (QPSK) modulated signal.

1. Introduction

With the launch of fifth generation (5G) services, the next generation of Beyond 5G/6G wireless
communication systems are being actively researched. The goal of these next-generation wireless
communication systems is to achieve ultra-high-speed data transmission at speeds exceeding 100 Gbps,
which is 10 times faster than 5G. A wide transmission frequency band is essential to achieve such
high-speed transmission. 5G systems utilize millimeter-wave bands such as 28 GHz and enable/offer
a maximum transmission speed of 10 Gbps over radio frequency (RF) bandwidth of up to 400 MHz.
On the other hand, establishing a communication system over sub-millimeter-wave at 275 GHz,
alternatively known as sub- terahertz (THz), can/will potentially enable transmission speed exceeding
100 Gbps by utilizing ultra-broadband RF channel of a bandwidth of over 10 GHz [1-3]. In this regards,
device and circuit technologies are becoming of increasing importance in the development and
research field to achieve such ultra-broadband performance.
In addition, the system simulation has recently become attractive and important to ensure overall
system performance consistency. Furthermore, it enables proper handling of system-level problems
that are commonly pronounced in the sophisticated mechanisms currently in use such as Multiple-
Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and beamforming techniques.
In this paper, the necessity for system simulation will be first discussed in section 2. System level
simulation will be then applied to design a communication system at 300 GHz band and presented in
section 3. A brief conclusion will be outlined in section 4.

2. Necessity of system simulation

In the design of wireless systems, the outline is examined at the system level to meet the strict
requirements of the communication physical layer, and the parameters of each block are defined.
Furthermore, the digital signal processing unit and the analog unit are optimized. After that, a

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development procedure for estimation / verification is required in a series of processes up to detailed

design.
In above process, system-level simulation can optimize system performance from the link budget [4].
As for simulation, there are detail simulators for device level, circuit level and so on. The system
level simulation referred in this paper connects each level of devices, circuits, and systems.
Furthermore, it integrates Baseband and RF (including radio frequency propagation) to simulate the
entire system. There are various system level simulators such as SystemVue, Visual System Simulator
and MATLAB / Simulink.
Currently, electronic design automation (EDA) tools for integrated circuit (IC)s and wireless circuits
are indispensable, but design and verification by system simulation are not indispensable. How does a
wireless communication system achieve communication range and communication quality? It is
evaluated by estimating the link budget using a level diagram, such as the required noise figure,
transmission power, and antenna gain. But there are other factors called margins that are not included
in the calculation of the link budget. These include local oscillator (LO) phase noise, group delay and
non-linear (amplitude modulation to amplitude modulation (AM-AM) and amplitude modulation to
phase modulation (AM-PM) conversion). On the other hand, the terahertz band used for 6G uses ultra-
wideband, but to optimize the performance of the system, the Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio, phase noise,
linear / non-linear signal degradation, and waveform selection must be considered. The frequency
multiplier, which requires the LO used in the terahertz band, also causes additive phase noise that
further degrades the multiplied LO phase noise and affects the modulation characteristics of the signal.
The above factors can be included in the simulation at the system level. The next section shows
what is possible in the terahertz band. This may indicate a feasible wireless communication system
or standard even if the device or circuit design is not complete. With using the system level
simulation, it is also possible to identify the problems in detail design and provide feedback to the
device and circuit designers with the effect of each factor and its influence on the overall
performance. System level simulation is also effective for the prediction of the any problem that may
occur when devices, circuits, and wireless systems are integrated.

3. Case Study: 300 GHz system design

The first question is, "Does the simulator run at 300 GHz?" The second question is whether ultra-
wideband beyond 10 GHz is possible. The signal consists of a time-varying modulating signal on a
high-frequency carrier or center frequency. In system simulation for solving these problems, there is
an envelope technology that uses numerical analysis in several orders lower than the highest carrier
frequency. This technology is used to accurately model RF signals while reducing simulation time,
and more importantly, to reduce the sampling frequency. This is because when simulating ultra-
wideband, it is simulated in the time domain. How to model the task is also important.
Of course, when you think about system simulation, you don't have to think about the layout including
electromagnetic field simulation directly, but you must think about antenna and radio wave
propagation.
Fig. 1 shows the applied simulation model of a 300 GHz band communication system to investigate
the effect of phase noise associated with the LO [5,6]. The blocks shown in Fig. 1 can be analyzed
with a circuit simulator. Also, the parameters used in the circuit can be obtained from the device
simulator. However, system level simulation is required to determine whether the overall performance
meets the required specifications. Since digital elements and analog elements are mixed in Fig. 1, it is
also a role to handle in system level simulation.
The up conversion between the intermediate frequency (IF) and the sub-terahertz frequency involves
frequency conversion by the local oscillator (LO), a signal source, and a frequency converter.
Frequency multiplier, which is often used in the LO path, increases phase noise. It also contributes to

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additive phase noise, which further degrades the multiplied LO phase noise and affects modulation
quality. For low enough error vector magnitude (EVM) performance in the sub-terahertz frequency
range, a high quality with low phase noise LO source is required [7].

Fig. 1 A simulation model of a 300 GHz band communication system with the effect of LO
Phase Noise.

In Fig. 1, the envelope technology is used in the RF block. Specifically, it is used in QPSK modulated
signals (IF 50 GHz, RF 275 GHz) and LO paths (12.5 GHz, 225 GHz).Here, according to the sampling
theorem, the sampling rate required to completely reproduce the signal must be set to a value greater
than twice the maximum frequency contained in the signal. In other words, in Fig. 1, it is necessary to
set the sampling rate to a value larger than 550 GHz for the QPSK modulated signal of 275 GHz, which
is the maximum frequency. In the case of envelope signal representation, it is possible to display the
signal by setting the sampling rate near the bandwidth of the information. However, envelope
technology is also limited when the bandwidth of information is ultra-wideband.

Fig. 2 Circuit diagram for simulating the effect of LO Phase Noise on SystemVue

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Fig. 2 shows a circuit diagram for simulating the effect of LO phase noise on SystemVue. In this case,
the modulation is set to QPSK. The IF modulated signal with a center frequency of 50 GHz passed
through a root raised cosine Filter with a symbol rate of 500 MHz and alpha of 0.2 is up-converted to
275 GHz by the mixer. The LO signal source frequency is 12.5 GHz, and the LO frequency of the
mixer is 225 GHz because it is multiplied by 18 by the frequency multiplier in the subsequent stage.
Insets of Fig. 1 illustrates a single sideband noise spectrum of a typical oscillator, where the dashed
line indicates noise degradation by 20log(N) due to frequency multiplication.
The LO phase noise is modeled for frequency offsets greater than 1 Hz and is specified in dBc/Hz for
each offset frequency. In this case, a vector signal analysis (VSA) function is used to analyze the
simulation results at the output of the up converter.

Fig. 3 The simulation result in vector signal analysis (VSA)

Fig. 3 shows the simulation result in VSA, which shows a signal with an occupied bandwidth of about
600 MHz and a carrier frequency of 275 GHz. The QPSK constellation is shown in the upper left. The
constellation shows some dispersion caused by the LO phase noise. This constellation state dispersion
corresponds to the 16.127% rms EVM in the lower middle list view [8]. The system can be evaluated
based on this value.
Also, we have clarified the effects of the LO’s phase noise, group delay and non-linear, which are
parameters necessary for optimizing the system performance in the system level simulation, at the
system level in the terahertz band, and are making use of them in the research and design of devices,
circuits and systems.
As shown above, modern simulators can handle 300 GHz class carriers and 600 MHz wideband
requirements.

4. Conclusion

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This paper had summarized the significance of using system simulation in the design of complicated
wireless communication systems. Due to its sever influence at THz band, the phase noise had been
investigated in the case study as presented in this work. The results were shown by simulating the
extent of this effect. System simulation is also important at the research and development stages.
In addition, a simulator is not an emulator. Of course, there is the possibility of an emulator as an
extension of a simulator. The system simulation is a reliable companion that is required to estimate the
system performance in a considerably short time.

Acknowledgements
This research work was financially supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
of Japan (JPJ000254).
We would like to thank the project members for their advice in conducting the research.

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