On the capacity of log-normal fading channels

Abstract

In this letter we provide an analytical expression for the moments of the capacity for the log-normal fading channel. Since the developed expression involves infinite series, we show that the error that results from the truncation of these series is insignificant. We also analyze in more details the ergodic capacity by giving a simpler expression for the remainder of the truncated series. Relying on the fact that the sum of log-normal random variables (RV) is well approximated by another lognormal RV, we further utilize the obtained results to approximate the capacity of diversity combining techniques in correlated lognormal fading channels. The results that we provide in this letter are an important tool for measuring the performance of communication links in a log-normal environment.