Deep Learning Prediction of Beam Coherence Time for Near-Field TeraHertz Networks

Large multiple antenna arrays coupled with accurate beamforming are essential in terahertz (THz) communications to ensure link reliability. However, as the number of antennas increases, beam alignment (focusing) and beam tracking in mobile networks incur prohibitive overhead. Additionally, the near-field region expands both with the size of antenna arrays and the carrier frequency, calling for adjustments in the beamforming to account for spherical wavefront instead of the conventional planar wave assumption. In this letter, we introduce a novel beam coherence time for mobile THz networks, to drastically reduce the rate of beam updates. Then, we propose a deep learning model, relying on a simple feedforward neural network with a time-dependent input, to predict the beam coherence time and adjust the beamforming on the fly with minimal overhead. Our numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by enabling higher data rates while reducing the overhead, especially at high (i.e., vehicular) mobility.