An Improved Pointing Error Model for mmWave and THz Links: Antenna and Array Design Impact

Pointing error has a significant impact on the performance of millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) communications due to directional transmission. Currently existing pointing error models are lacking in capturing the mmWave/THz radiation characteristics and/or the impact of antenna design and array design. Therefore, in this letter, a simple analytical pointing error model for highly directional mmWave/THz transmission is proposed. By utilizing the Gaussian beam approximation for both the array element radiation pattern and the array factor, the presented model incorporates antenna design parameters (maximum gain and 3 dB beamwidth) and array design parameters (number of array elements, element spacing, and 3 dB beamwidth). This approximation is validated via electromagnetic simulations in CST Microwave Studio. Afterwards, the statistics of the pointing error are derived according to the Gaussian beam approximation, and it is demonstrated that the pointing error follows a special case of the negative log-Gamma distribution with the shape parameter of 2 and the scale parameter depending on antenna/array design and jitter variance. It is shown that the proposed model aligns perfectly with the simulation results. Moreover, the outage performance of an aerial communication scenario is analyzed to examine the impact of pointing errors. The results have revealed that the antenna and array design parameters are as influential as the jitter variance, and they cannot be neglected.