Frequency-Selective Rain Attenuation in Terahertz Communication Channels

Abstract

Rain introduces broadband and frequency-selective attenuation in wideband terahertz (THz) links, making it necessary to identify a compact spectral descriptor that captures how the dominant loss region evolves with rainfall conditions. This article investigates the peak-frequency behavior of rain attenuation by combining Mie theory calculations with one separable laboratory Gaussian drop-size distribution (DSD) and eight outdoor empirical DSD models whose spectral shapes vary with rainfall rate. The analysis compares total loss, absorption, and scattering components, examines the roles of the characteristic DSD scale and representative drop size statistics, and evaluates the effect of temperature on the peak location. The results show that, unlike the fixed-shape laboratory case where the peak frequency remains unchanged with rainfall rate, all outdoor empirical DSD models exhibit a monotonic migration of the attenuation peak toward lower frequencies as rainfall rate increases. This migration follows a quasi-exact inverse scaling with the rainfall-dependent DSD characteristic scale, follows a family-specific asymptotic power law in rainfall rate, and is governed mainly by characteristic drop size, while fixed-temperature dielectric dispersion contributes only secondary corrections in the broad-peak, low-rainfall regime.