IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO.

3, AUGUST 1990

187

Estimate of Channel Capacity in Rayleigh Fading Environment

Abstract- The channel capacity of Gaussian noise environment was solved by Shannon in 1949. it provides an upper bound of maximum transmission rate in a given Gaussian noise environment. In this paper the channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment has been derived. The result shows that the channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment is always lower than that in a Gaussian noise environment. When operating a digital transmission in a mobile radio environment that has Rayleigh fading statistics, it is very important to know what the degradations are in channel capacity due to Rayleigh fading, and also to what degree the diversity schemes can bring the channel capacity up in a Rayleigh fading environment. The curves are generated to show the degradation of channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment and its improvement by diversity schemes.

I. INTRODUCTION

ll
"

N
Fig. 1.

( C / N )in Rayleigh fading environment.

1948, Shannon's Mathematical Theory of Communication [ 11, [2] perceived that approaching 1) error-free digital limited bandwidth can be derived with the information of (2) communication on noisy channels and 2) maximum efficiency PI. conversion of analog signal-to-digital form, were dual facets 11. IN A RAYLEIGH FADING ENVIRONMENT [6] of the same problem. In a Gaussian noise environment the The channel capacity in Rayleigh fading has to be calculated channel capacity of a white bandlimited Gaussian channel can in an average sense. The reason is that the y (=UN varies be expressed as [3], [4] in time, due to Rayleigh fading as shown in Fig. 1, N is C = B l o g , ( I +y) b/s (1) the average noise power over the Gaussian noise. N can also where B is the channel bandwidth and y is the carrier-to-noise be treated as an average resulting from multiple interference ratio as y = C / N , C is the RF carrier power, and N is the sources which approach a Gaussian-like noise. In a real mobile Gaussian noise within the channel bandwidth. Equation (1) is radio environment, this is the case. called the Channon-Hartley theorem; it is for a continuous The average channel capacity then, can indicate the average channel. First, it tells us the absolute best that the system can best over the fading environment. It follows the same concept provide with given channel parameters, C / N and B . Secondly, as to obtain the average bit error rate in the Rayleigh fading with a specified information rate, the power and bandwidth are environment. inversely related to each other. Thirdly, the Shannon-Hartley Now we would like to find a equation equivalent to (l), theorem indicates that a noiseless Gaussian channel has an but in a Rayleigh fading environment. The carrier-to-noise infinite capacity when CIN approaches infinity. However, the ratio will no longer be a constant, but a variable following the channel capacity does not become infinite when the bandwidth Rayleigh fading statistics. A maximum value of the channel becomes infinite, as seen in (1). This is because the noise capacity in this case then can be obtained, but in an average power increases with the increase of bandwidth. Let N = sense. NOBwhere N Ois the noise power per Hertz, then ( 1) becomes The probability density function of a Rayleigh variable is [7, p. 3991 lim C = (log, 2)-C = I .U C
E-00 N O N O Then the upper bound bit error rate of a system with an un-

I"

(3) where r is the average power of y, r = (y) = ( C ) / N .We are applying the same technique of obtaining the average bit error rates in a Rayleigh fading environment [7, p. 4071 to find the average channel capacity in the same environment.

Manuscript received December 20, 1987; revised December 1, 1988. This paper was presented at the 38th Annual IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Conference, Philadelphia, PA, June 15-17, 1988. The author is with Pactel Cellular, Inc., 4340 Von Karman Avenue, Newport Beach, CA 92660. IEEE Log Number 90371 10.

0018-9545/90/0800-0187$01 .00

0 1990 IEEE

188
Here the average channel capacity is

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 39, NO. 3, AUGUST 1 9 3 '4 3

(C) = / 0 0 B log, ( 1
0

+ y) . e-Yir dy. Y
. Ei

1 -[CHANNEL B

CAPACITY C OR <CBI
U D I r n O O

(4)

Equation (4) can be solved [8, p. 5741 as

(C) = -B . log, e .

where Ei(x) is the exponential-integral function and can be expressed in two different forms [8, p. 9271 E;(-x) = E + l n ( x ) + x - ( -Nk k.k! k=l
00

where x > 0, E is Euler constant (E = 0.5772157), and R , is the remainder. substituting (6) into (5) yields

Fig. 2 . Channel capacity in Gaussian noise and Rayleigh fading channels.

1 1 1 . IN A RAYLEICH FADING ENVIRONMENT WITH DIVERSITY SCHEME

AN

M-BRANCH

In the case of

r > 2, (8) becomes

For reducing Rayleigh fading we may use the maximal-ratio combining technique, which is the best combining technique for an M-branch diversity signal. The probability diversity function of a carrier-to-noise ratio of a combined signal is expressed as [7, p. 4431, [9]
M-1

Equations (1) and (9) are plotted in Fig. 2. The channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment is reduced 32%at r = 10 dB, and reduced only 11% at r = 25 dB, as expected.

In (12), we assume the carrier-to-noise ratios of all M branches are the same, r = r k . is then the carrier-to-noise ratio of a single channel. Equation (12) also can be expressed as

A . Infinite Bandwidth Case

To find the average channel capacity when the bandwidth of the system becomes unlimited, we have to choose (7) in (5)

(C) = -B . log, e . [r - r2+ 2! . r3- 3! . r"' + . . .I.

Since J? = ( C ) / N = ( C ) / N o B ,then
B-02

(10)

where the average value of y, (y) = MI'. Now the channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment with an M-branch diversity can be obtained as

lim

(C)

Equation (1 1) indicates that when the bandwidth approaches infinity the average channel capacity in the Rayleigh fading environment is the same as shown in (2) for a nonfading environment, i.e., the average channel capacity is finite even though the bandwidth approaches infinity. The average channel capacity is equal to the average (C)/Notimes a factor of 1.44.

Equation (14) is calculated numerically for M 2 2, and shown in Fig. 2. For C / N = 15 dB CA (Gaussian) = 4.9 B ( C ) (Rayleigh) = 4 B For C / N = 10 dB (Gaussian) = 3.5 B (C) (Rayleigh) = 2.3 B . It indicates that the lower the ClZ, the larger the difference between C and (C).

LEE: CHANNEL CAPACITY IN RAYLEIGH FADING ENVIRONMENT

189 The average channel capacity over Rayleigh fading equals the channel capacity over Gaussian noise when the bandwidth approaches infinite. When the number of diversity branches M approaches infinite, the channel capacity of an M-branch signal in a Rayleigh fading environment approaches the channel capacity in a Gaussian noise environment. REFERENCES
C. E. Shannon and W. Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana, IL: Univ. Illinois Press, 1949. A. J . Viterbi and J. K. Omura, Principles of Digital Communication and Coding. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979, ch. 1. H. Taub and D. L. Schilling, Principles of Communication Systems. New york: McGraw-Hill, 1971, p. 421. A. B. Carlson, Communication Systems. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975, p. 356. R. S. Kennedy, Fading Dispersive Communication Channels. New York: Wiley, 1969, p. 109. W. C. Y. Lee, Mobile Communications Design Fundamentals. New York: Howard W. Sams Co., 1986, ch. 1 . M. Schwartz, W . Bennett, and S. Stein, Communication Systems and Techniques. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Gradshteyn and Ryzhik, Table of Integrals, Series and Products. W. C. Y. Lee, Mobile Communications Engineerng. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982, p. 310.

A . The Extreme Case

The cumulative probability distribution can be found from (13) as
P(Y 5 (7)) =

(Y )

P(Y)dY.

(15)

The extreme case is when M

--+

00;

then (15) becomes

and

The probability density function obtained from (15) as M-+mis

It is indirect proof that (13) becomes a delta function 6(y) when M + 00. Equation (14) then becomes

(6)= B/m
0

log,(l

+Y P ( Y

(7)) dr

= Blog,(l +y).

(19)
+ 02

Equation (19) is the same as (l), i.e., when M

(C) + C as (7) + y.

(20)

We realize that the channel capacity in the Rayleigh fading environment for M = 4 and greater is very close to channel capacity in the Gaussian noise environment.
IV. CONCLUSION

Although the average channel capacity is not an absolute maximum value in the Rayleigh fading environment, it introduces other valuable information for the continuous channel system with finite bandwidth. By comparing the actual transmission rate with the average channel capacity obtained from Fig. 1, we get a feel for how good the system has been designed and how far the actual average channel capacity value will reach. Several points can be summarized as follows. The channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment is in an average sense. The channel capacity in a Rayleigh fading environment is always lower than that of a Gaussian noise environment. The diversity scheme can bring the channel capacity up in a Rayleigh fading environment.

William C. Y. Lee (M64-SM80-F82) received the B.Sc. degree from the Chinese Naval Academy, Taiwan, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1954, 1960, and 1963, respectively. From 1959 to 1963 he was a Research Assistant at the Electroscience Laboratory, The Ohio State University. He was associated with Bell Laboratories from 1964 to 1979 where he was concerned with the study of wave propagation and systems, millimeter and optical wave propagation, switching systems, and satellite communications. He developed a UHF propagation model for use in planning the Bell Systems new Advanced Mobile Phone Service and was a pioneer in mobile radio communication studies. He applied the field component diversity scheme over mobile radio communication links. While working in satellite communications, he discovered a method of calculating the rain rate statistics which would affect the signal attenuation at 10 GHz and above. He successfully designed a 4 x 4 element printed circuit antenna for tryout use. He studied and set a 3-mm-wave link between the Empire State Building and Pan American Building in New York City, experimentally using the newly developed IMPATT diode. He also studied the scanning spot beam concept for satellite communication using the adaptive array scheme. From April 1979 until April 1985 he worked for ITT Defense Communications Division and was involved with advanced programs for wiring military communications systems. He developed several simulation programs for the multipath fading medium and applied them to ground mobile communication systems. In 1982 he was Manager of the Advanced Development Department, responsible for the pursuit of new technologies for future communication systems. He developed an artificial intelligence application in the networking area and filed a patent application before leaving ITT. He joined PacTel Mobile Companies in 1985, where he is engaged in the improvement of system performance and capacity.