erformance Analysis of IRS-Assisted Terrestrial MIMO Terahertz Communications over Atmospheric Turbulence Channels

erformance Analysis of IRS-Assisted Terrestrial MIMO Terahertz Communications over Atmospheric Turbulence Channels | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article erformance Analysis of IRS-Assisted Terrestrial MIMO Terahertz Communications over Atmospheric Turbulence Channels Hao Wu, Mingbo Niu, Biao Wang, Huan Liu, Md. Sipon Miah This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8719528/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 16 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The terahertz (THz) band has received much attention as a potentially usable bandwidth for 6G. Near-Earth THz is susceptible to strong atmospheric interference, and direct links are vulnerable to obstacles, limiting the breadth of its applications. Emerging intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) with multi-input multi-output (MIMO) techniques can mitigate the effects of signal interference and atmospheric turbulence through non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links. To address these challenges, this paper introduces IRS to enhance the coverage and system performance of THz links, and thoroughly analyses the performance metrics of the IRS-assisted THz communication system. First, the atmospheric perturbation of the MIMO THz system is modelled to analyse the characteristics of the perturbation. Given that the turbulence intensity in THz wave transmission is positively correlated with the distance, M\'alaga and Gamma-Gamma distributions are used to simulate the atmospheric turbulence channels from the transmitter to the IRS and from the IRS to the receiver, respectively. Subsequently, pointing errors are considered for the potential displacement deviation of the receiving aperture and the NLOS link. Based on this, the probability density function of the channel state for the NLOS link is derived, and the equal-gain combination (EGC) and maximum-ratio combination (MRC) reception schemes are examined. The numerical results indicate that appropriate modulation techniques can improve performance, while pointing errors and turbulence effects have a significant impact on performance. Increasing the number of input and output ports also significantly improves system performance for all receiving schemes. Comparative analysis reveals that the MRC scheme offers a higher gain compared to the EGC scheme, typically achieving a 1-5 dB performance gain. Still, this advantage diminishes as the number of input ports increases. Meanwhile, the effects of phase noise and phase shift on the system performance are analysed. As phase noise and phase shift continue to decrease, their impact on system performance will gradually diminish and approach zero. Consequently, the performance effects due to phase shift and phase noise are weaker compared to the differences in system performance caused by variations in system parameters. Terahertz communications Intelligent reflecting surface Atmospheric turbulence Backscatter communication MIMO Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 16 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 13 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 09 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 04 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 05 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 28 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 28 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 28 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8719528","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":586299947,"identity":"b52a8dc6-e4a8-4de5-8dc1-cb5e373a6b65","order_by":0,"name":"Hao Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chang'an University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":586299948,"identity":"88cdcb72-2325-4a4e-9cfd-b43b3d73b194","order_by":1,"name":"Mingbo Niu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chang'an University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mingbo","middleName":"","lastName":"Niu","suffix":""},{"id":586299950,"identity":"ccd2c67d-3799-4b0d-b04c-4b4575100638","order_by":2,"name":"Biao Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1ElEQVRIie3LsQrCMBSF4SsFuwRc42CfIRIIQkFfpUHQJZSOgoKZdHTtYwiCc6VglxTX7I46CK4iNotjjJtg/uleOB+Az/ejBUAAOoAAm9uddOV3pIkUroRUdXnJsmFEq/qgYRZzGdaFnah0EudkTJlKxwNQUy5RmlgJKwSjiAR8rxHDrVXJJUbETk5XQ5Z8lxvydCFa0DMiJd9iQ6QDGekrC3JSUawEHSTHKV0hYSfdjaD37DGPOmvV17dF3NuEyk6a2vh9Jub9tG8Kbg4jn8/n++dek0FAnLdeqDIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Chang'an University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Biao","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":586299953,"identity":"d7c0f77c-e19a-4e9a-847b-114ed546f509","order_by":3,"name":"Huan Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Chang'an University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huan","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""},{"id":586299954,"identity":"ac43be89-0bb9-4238-aa26-71f0a1e39f1a","order_by":4,"name":"Md. 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Near-Earth THz is susceptible to strong atmospheric interference, and direct links are vulnerable to obstacles, limiting the breadth of its applications. Emerging intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) with multi-input multi-output (MIMO) techniques can mitigate the effects of signal interference and atmospheric turbulence through non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links. To address these challenges, this paper introduces IRS to enhance the coverage and system performance of THz links, and thoroughly analyses the performance metrics of the IRS-assisted THz communication system. First, the atmospheric perturbation of the MIMO THz system is modelled to analyse the characteristics of the perturbation. Given that the turbulence intensity in THz wave transmission is positively correlated with the distance, M\\'alaga and Gamma-Gamma distributions are used to simulate the atmospheric turbulence channels from the transmitter to the IRS and from the IRS to the receiver, respectively. 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As phase noise and phase shift continue to decrease, their impact on system performance will gradually diminish and approach zero. Consequently, the performance effects due to phase shift and phase noise are weaker compared to the differences in system performance caused by variations in system parameters.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"erformance Analysis of IRS-Assisted Terrestrial MIMO Terahertz Communications over Atmospheric Turbulence Channels","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-10 06:35:24","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8719528/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-03-18T11:28:25+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-18T06:20:37+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-16T05:45:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-14T02:38:33+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-09T05:01:01+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-03-04T06:53:57+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"7283450163748905314109548365582710323","date":"2026-03-01T15:06:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"82825114833648544613361019422898750022","date":"2026-03-01T14:14:26+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"137756772844247038649360394420125121267","date":"2026-03-01T12:00:56+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"114267332493764608170981134081919896140","date":"2026-03-01T11:06:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"200800183955879945508017988747394227191","date":"2026-03-01T11:03:48+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"10405128354243543649288898343190143334","date":"2026-03-01T10:19:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-02-05T11:01:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-01-29T04:24:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-29T04:24:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Journal of King Saud University Computer and Information Sciences","date":"2026-01-28T10:39:14+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-king-saud-university-computer-and-information-sciences","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of King Saud University Computer and Information Sciences](https://link.springer.com/journal/44443)","snPcode":"44443","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/44443/3","title":"Journal of King Saud University Computer and Information Sciences","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Open","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"c042d771-4607-4353-8d2f-2951a76670ad","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 10th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-29T04:40:04+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-10 06:35:24","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8719528","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8719528","identity":"rs-8719528","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}