Capacity of The Discrete-Time Non-Coherent Memoryless Rayleigh Fading Channels at Low SNR

Abstract: The capacity of a discrete-time memoryless channel, in which successive symbols fade independently, and where the channel state information (CSI) is neither available at the transmitter nor at the receiver, is considered at low SNR. We derive a closed form expression of the optimal capacity-achieving input distribution at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and give the exact capacity of a non-coherent channel at low SNR. The derived relations allow to better understanding the capacity of non-coherent channels at low SNR and bring an analytical answer to the peculiar behavior of the optimal input distribution observed in a previous work by Abou Faycal, Trott and Shamai. Then, we compute the non-coherence penalty and give a more precise characterization of the sub-linear term in SNR. Finally, in order to better understand how the optimal input varies with SNR, upper and lower bounds on the capacity-achieving input are given.