TeraMIMO: A Channel Simulator for Wideband Ultra-Massive MIMO Terahertz Communications

Following recent advances in terahertz (THz) technology, there is a consensus among multiple research initiatives on the essential role of THz communications in the sixth generation of wireless communication systems and beyond. Aiming at catalyzing THz communications research, we propose TeraMIMO, an accurate MATLAB simulator of statistical THz channels. We simulate ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna configurations as critical infrastructure enablers that overcome the limitation in THz communications distances. We consider both line-of-sight and multipath components and propose frequency- and delay-domain implementations for single- and multi-carrier paradigms in both time-invariant and time-variant scenarios. We implement exhaustive molecular absorption computations based on radiative transfer theory alongside alternative sub-THz approximations. We further model THz-specific constraints, including wideband beam split effects, spherical wave propagation, and misalignment fading. We verify TeraMIMO by analogy with measurement-based channel models in the literature, and we introduce a graphical user interface.