Error exponents for multipath fading channels : a strong coding theorem

Abstract

We derive upper and lower bounds on the probability of error (the exponents of which are the error exponents) with "peaky" signaling -- the signaling strategy that achieves the capacity of the multipath fading channel under an average power constraint in the limit of infinite bandwidth. These bounds constitute a strong coding theorem for the channel as they not only delimit the range of achievable rates, but also give us a relationship among the error probability, data rate, bandwidth, "peakiness", and fading parameters such as the coherence time. They can be used to compare peaky signaling to other large bandwidth systems over fading channels, such as ultrawide band (UWB) radio and wideband CDMA. We first derive an upper bound for general fading, then specialize to the case of Rayleigh fading where we obtain upper and lower bounds that are exponentially tight and therefore yield the reliability function. We study the behavior of the reliability function and the upper and lower error probability bounds numerically.