Channel capacity and error exponents of variable rate adaptive channel coding for Rayleigh fading channels

We have evaluated the information theoretical performance of variable rate adaptive channel coding for Rayleigh fading channels. The channel states are detected at the receiver and fed back to the transmitter by means of a noiseless feedback link. Based on the channel state informations, the transmitter can adjust the channel coding scheme accordingly. Coherent channel and arbitrary channel symbols with a fixed average transmitted power contraint are assumed. The channel capacity and the error exponent are evaluated and the optimal rate control rules are found for Rayleigh fading channels with feedback of channel states. It is shown that the variable rate scheme can only increase the channel error exponent. The effects of additional practical constraints and finite feedback delays are also considered. Finally, we compare the performance of the variable rate adaptive channel coding in high bandwidth-expansion systems (CDMA) and high bandwidth-efficiency systems (TDMA).