Towards Power Efficient 6G Sub-THz Transmission

Extreme high rate demands for 6G can be addressed by communication technologies in the millimeter wave and Terahertz bands. In these high carrier frequencies, power consumption can become a key limiting factor and thus has to be assessed thoroughly. This paper considers the power consumption of the RF frontend of a transceiver for the use in a hot spot scenario. A power consumption model for the main functional blocks has been derived for different frequencies and array architectures, both at transmit and receive side. The impact of the EIRP reduction over the frequency range from 90 GHz up to 230 GHz due to increased path loss and reduced output power of the power amplifiers has been assessed and the related power consumption has been evaluated. Further, the impact of analog-to-digital converters on the overall power consumption of the receive part have been carved out. Key dominating components have been identified indicating the number of antenna elements needed for different architectures and the related power consumption.