On the Statistical Properties of the Capacity of OSTBC Nakagami-Lognormal MIMO Channels

This article presents a thorough statistical analysis of the capacity of orthogonal space-time block coded (OSTBC) Nakagami-lognormal (NLN) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. The NLN channel model allows to study the joint effects of fast fading and shadowing on the statistical properties of the channel capacity. We have derived exact analytical expressions for the probability density function (PDF), cumulative distribution function (CDF), level-crossing rate (LCR), and average duration of fades (ADF) of the capacity of NLN MIMO channels. It is observed that an increase in the MIMO dimension(1) or a decrease in the severity of fading results in an increase in the mean channel capacity, while the variance of the channel capacity decreases. On the other hand, an increase in the shadowing standard deviation increases the spread of the channel capacity, however the shadowing effect has no influence on the mean channel capacity. The presented results are very useful and general because they provide the flexibility to study the impact of shadowing on the channel capacity under different fading conditions. Moreover, the effects of severity of fading on the channel capacity can also be studied. The correctness of theoretical results is confirmed by simulations.